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Introduction
Effective leadership is among the crucial elements for the success of a corporate organization (Mears, 2010). Effective leadership is not only confined to approaches used by a leader within an organization, but it also depends on the situation at hand, which determines the most effective leadership style (Nohria & Khurana, 2010). Therefore, an effective leader should be the one who is able to exhibit the most appropriate style of leadership, depending on the prevailing situation; he or she should be able to tell when a specific kind of leadership is required within an organization (Cameron, 2006; DuBrin, 2012).
Leadership of Bill Gates: Co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft Corporation
Bill Gates has numerous leadership qualities (Daft, 2008). One of the qualities is that of a clear vision. An effective leader has a vision of what he or she wants to achieve and the capability of vividly communicating the vision so that everybody within an organization comprehends what is required to achieve (Daft, 2008). Apart from that, Bill Gates is always willing to take on new challenges so as to achieve new results (Daft, 2008). A leader must always have the courage to create a vision and pursue what it takes to achieve the vision (Dearlove, 2010). This is what Bill Gates does as a leader. Moreover, he is a self-motivated and inspired individual who is always determined to achieve his vision. In this regard, he also has the ability to inspire those around him to promote collective organizational success (Dearlove, 2010).
Bill Gates is also innovative, passionate and intelligent, and possesses entrepreneurial skills. These are qualities that an effective leader should have. The success of Microsoft Corporation is an example of the entrepreneurial skills possessed by Bill Gates; the entrepreneurial skills are among some of the qualities that an effective leader should have (Dearlove, 2010).
Becoming a Great Leader: The Case of Bill Gates
It is an indisputable fact that Bill Gates is an effective leader, especially within the Information Technology industry. However, to be effective is not enough; he needs to go beyond being just an effective leader by possessing certain leadership qualities, skills and characteristics.
One of the leadership qualities Bill Gates needs to have so as to be considered as a great leader is that he should be able to use various leadership styles within the Microsoft Corporation, depending on different situations that may arise. This kind of leadership quality makes a leader be able to deal with different challenges while also taking advantage of new business opportunities that arise (Iqbal, 2011; Bertocci, 2008). In addition, even though Gates has built a remarkable leadership brand in the IT industry, he is said to be arrogant and has little tolerance in relation to other successful industry players (Donlan, 2008). Thus, to be a great leader, Bill Gates needs to be tolerant and cooperative with other industry players so as to further the development of the IT industry leaders.
Moreover, Bill Gates has been viewed as a bully and an antagonist within the IT industry, which makes him a mere effective leader, especially with respect to the success of the Microsoft Corporation (Richardson & Earle, 2006). As such, he needs to develop respect for other industry leaders who have also made immense contributions to the industry. Bill Gates should also be able to share his expertise beyond the Microsoft Corporation as an industry leader. This will certainly earn him respect from other industry players, thereby appearing as a great leader.
Selected Empowerment Strategies
One of the employee empowerment strategies is to provide the crucial skills required for the performance of specific tasks (Hickman, 2009). The skills can be provided by raising the education levels of employees (Hickman, 2009). In regards to this, as the education levels increase, employees become more empowered to perform more delegated duties, which allows the employees to work efficiently within their boundaries of skills (Hickman, 2009). Moreover, in providing the crucial skills, effective leaders must focus on training and developing their staff members to succeed in their new empowered roles (Hickman, 2009).
The second employee empowerment strategy is democracy in the workplace. Workplace democracy is an empowerment concept in which employees are to play an active role in all the aspects of an organizations business operations. Workplace democracy is a concept that advocates for employees to be allowed to freely make contributions to the decision-making process of an organization (Hickman, 2009).
The third empowerment strategy is the improvement of work-life and job enrichment. The main aim of improving work-life is to make employees feel good about the work they do. The strategy may include giving employees more freedom with regard to the actual tasks that they undertake (Hickman, 2009).
Reasons for Selecting the Empowerment Strategies
There are reasons why I have selected the three empowerment strategies. The reason for selecting the provision of crucial skills as one of the empowerment strategies is due to its importance in terms of enhancing job performances (Kerry, 2012). It is often impossible to get employees to perform specific tasks if they do not have the necessary skills. Therefore, this strategy can be used by leaders to model employees for specific tasks by equipping them with relevant knowledge and skills. When employees have the right skills, they are always empowered to tackle tasks relevant to their skills (Kerry, 2012).
The choice of workplace democracy as an empowerment strategy is motivated by the fact that individuals often prefer working in organizations where they get recognized and appreciated (Kerry, 2012). Employees are normally happy and effective when exposed to a democratic work environment. This strategy can be used to encourage innovation among self-driven employees. This implies that when employees are allowed to work in a democratic environment, they are able to come up with new ideas that are crucial for the success of a given organization (Kerry, 2012).
Improving work-life and job enrichment is another strategy that usually works well with various organizations (Kerry, 2012). I have selected this strategy because many organizations consider it as one of the best strategies to enhance employees job performances. It has been found out that the training of employees alone may not bring a lot of results if life at work is not up to the expectations of employees (Kerry, 2012). Thus, this strategy can be used to empower employees by providing sufficiently challenging tasks to employees. It also entails ensuring job enrichment, role intervention and job design (Kerry, 2012).
Conclusion
An effective leader needs to have some specific characteristics, qualities and skills. However, effective leadership is not enough, since there is the need for an effective leader to be considered great. In order to achieve this, a leader needs to share his or her ideas beyond an organization and also respect other leading industries.
References
Bertocci, D. (2009). Leadership in Organizations: There is a Difference between Leaders and Managers. Plymouth, UK: University Press of America.
Cameron, K. (2006). Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organizations. Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Daft, R. (2008). The Leadership Experience. London, UK: Cengage Learning.
Dearlove, D. (2010). The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Bill Gates Way: 10 Secrets of the Worlds Richest Business Leader. Winchester, Hampshire: John Wiley & Sons.
Donlan, T. (2008). A World of Wealth: How Capitalism Turns Profits into Progress. New York: FT Press.
DuBrin, A. (2012). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. London, UK: Cengage Learning.
Hickman, G. (2009). Leading Organizations: Perspectives for a New Era. London, UK: SAGE.
Iqbal, T. (2011). The impact of leadership styles on organizational effectiveness: Analytical study of selected organizations in IT sector in Karachi. Munich, Germany: GRIN Verlag.
Kerry, P. (2012). Crucial Skills and Influence Strategies (eBook Bundle). New York, US: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Mears, M. (2010). Leadership Elements: A Guide to Building Trust. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.
Nohria, N., & Khurana, R. (2010). Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice: An Hbs Centennial Colloquium on Advancing Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Richardson, C., & Earle, K. (2006). Relationship Based Leadership. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
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