Entrepreneurial Leadership in Growing Business Organizations
The entrepreneurs are the major part of the growing business organizations. They always need to be ready for the situation when the business will grow and become huge in the market. This means that the entrepreneur needs to play the role of the leader in the organization and guide the employees through the path of success. The growth of the organization further changes the culture and the attitudes of the employees. The entrepreneur needs to play an important role in changing the growing customer base into profits of the organization. The modern entrepreneurs need to understand that the successful operations of the organizations require implementation of new processes and methods (Middlehurst 2015). The entrepreneurs try to control the entire operations of the organization during the initial years of the business. In the later stages of the business operations that entrepreneurs tend to trust the employees who have become a major part of the business activities. The mind-set of the entrepreneurs tends to change after several years of the business operations. The decisions are made based on their instincts and they try to deal with the issues as and when they occur (Klenke 2016).
The changes in the character of the leaders take place during the operations of the business and the changes that take place in the external environment. The entrepreneurs then evolve as leaders of the organization who are responsible for taking the company forward with the help of their effective leadership. This will help in making the organization successful in the market. The success of the organization in the market depends totally on the effectiveness of the leadership style that is followed by the leaders. The essay will be based on the research of the leadership style Jeff Bezos the CEO of Amazon and the ways by which he has been continuing his operations in the market (Ardichvili et al. 2016).
Skills required by entrepreneurs to become successful leaders
Leadership skills are totally dependent on the management of people of employees in the organizations. The leaders thereby need to a definite strategic vision and great ideas so that the employees are willing to follow them easily. The leaders need to possess the abilities to lead the members of the team with the help of examples and communicating, sharing, mobilizing and delegating their jobs. The entrepreneurs of the organizations need to possess certain skills which can help them in becoming successful leaders (Seto and Sarros 2016). The seven leadership skills which act as a key for the success of leaders in the modern business environment are as follows,
- The leaders need to have proper strategic vision and great ideas to ensure the success of the company in the industry in which it operates. The entrepreneurs need to plan the position where they want to take their business within five years of the start of its operations. They can further share the vision with the employees and lead them through the appropriate path to reach their goals (McCleskey 2014).
- Communication is another major tool of the entrepreneurs for becoming successful leaders in the future. The entrepreneurs need to share the successes and the failures that the businesses experience with the employees or the members of the organization. This can help them to lead the employees towards the future success and growth of the organization in the market. The sharing of the successes and failures of the company with the employees will motivate them to achieve their goals and ensure the future growth of the revenues of the company. The employees can also act as valuable source of ideas for the organizations so that the processes can be improved.
- The entrepreneurs need to develop the ability to spot the right kind of talent as per the needs of the organization. The capability to retain the right talent is also a major responsibility of the entrepreneur to evolve as a successful leader in the market. This can help the entrepreneurs to become successful leaders of the companies and ensure the successful operations. The leaders also need to take appropriate steps to invest in the development and training of the employees after they are recruited in the suitable positions (Khoreva and Vaiman 2015).
- The entrepreneurs need to have a healthy ego so that they are able to delegate the right employees in the right positions in the organization. They will be able to become successful leaders if they can accept their inability to perform multiple duties at the same time. The leaders need to approach the situations that have occurred in the organization in a different manner. The growth of the organization further increases the duties of the leaders and this requires the successful delegation of the tasks to appropriate people (Fusco, O’Riordan and Palmer 2015).
- The entrepreneurs always need to lead the employees of the organization with the help of examples. They need to reflect on their own skill sets and decide the ways by which they can improve. This will act as an example for the other employees of the organization as they try to succeed in the achievement of their goals.
- The entrepreneurs can become successful leaders if they are willing to take the advice and the opinions of the various employees in the organization. This will help them in building successful relationships with the employees and lead them in an effective manner. The leaders along with the employees can thereby aim to achieve the goals that have been set by them (Mendenhall et al. 2017).
- The entrepreneurs also need to try to build leaders from among the employees in the organization. The leadership skills of the entrepreneurs can be developed with the help of the employees who are a major part of the entire processes that take place in the organization. The entrepreneurs can develop themselves and prove to be successful leaders of the organization.
Seven Key Leadership Skills for Entrepreneurial Success
The various qualities that have been discussed above can help the entrepreneurs to become successful leaders of the organizations and lead the employees and the organization towards a bright and successful future (Klenke et al. 2018).
Task 2
Jeff Bezos is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Amazon.com. The successful business ventures of Bezos have been able to make him one of the wealthiest people in the entire world. Bezos was born in the year 1964 on January 12 in Mexico. The entrepreneur had an early love for computers and has also studied electrical engineering and computer science. Bezos worked in Wall Street after his graduation and in the year 1990 he went on to become a young senior vice president at an investment firm. After four years he left the job for opening Amazon.com. The website started its operations as an online bookstore and further Amazon created history and became a giant in the online retail industry (Amazon.com. 2018). The move that was undertaken by Bezos was quite risky in nature as e-commerce was not quite prevalent when the company was created by him. The company had shown huge growth within a short period of time. The operating base of the organization was set up in the garage owned by Bezos. The software of Amazon was then developed with the help of a few number of employees. The operations were further expanded in a two-bedroom house which was equipped with the three Sun Microstations that was eventually developed into a testing site. The website started its operations on 16th July in the year 1995. The success that was experienced by the company in the initial stages was huge even without any promotion in the press. The website had started its business by selling books in the US (MacKie 2014). The sales of the company reached 20,000 dollars within just two weeks and the growth proved to be much more than the imagination of Bezos. The company was able to achieve this success within the short period of time due to the effective leadership of Jeff Bezos. The company went public in the year 1997 and the leading analysts of the market had different opinions about the future success of the website. Bezos went on to diversify the offerings of Amazon by making partnerships with the leading retailers to provide the different types of products to the consumers (Gurdjian, Halbeisen and Lane 2014).
Jeff Bezos: The Founder of Amazon.com
The leadership style of Jeff Bezos was the major reason behind the huge success of Amazon in the online retail industry. Bezos is now considered to be the most successful entrepreneur alive. The leadership of the entrepreneur is unconventional in nature and it has also proved to be scary at times. Bezos was able to make Amazon much more than only a book selling app. The company aimed at providing a wide range of products and services to the customers. The net worth of Jeff Bezos has amounted to billions in the recent years and the business has been operated by him with a perfect game plan. The leadership style of Jeff Bezos is considered to be bizarre and effective in nature (Hezlett 2016). The first characteristic of the style of leadership followed by Bezos has been the importance of self-critique. The second characteristic related to the leadership of Bezos is the acceptance of modern technologies. The new technologies have been able to change the entire operations of Amazon in the course of its operations. Bezos has implemented the culture of asking questions related to the different activities of the employees and to show his displeasure instantly. Bezos has also implemented the strategy of lean manufacturing to reduce the wastes related to the production and increase productivity (Modisane 2018).
The leadership style that was followed by Jeff Bezos is unique in nature and was a mixture of transactional and transformational styles. The unconventional style of leadership followed by Bezos has been the major reason behind the achievement of the topmost position by the company. The main philosophy that is followed under the leadership style of Bezos is based on the concept of customer is king. Bezos has been continuously looking for ways to create a stronger customer base by making them happy and satisfying their needs as well. The other internet based organizations have been trying to create a positive and fun based working atmosphere for the employees. On the other hand, the major focus of Bezos has always been the huge number of customers of the company rather than the employees (Huxtable-Thomas Hannon and Thomas 2016). This has been the major leadership secret of Jeff Bezos which has made Amazon the favourite organization of the customers. This passion of the leader towards providing the best customer service has placed Amazon at the top of the various lists based on customer satisfaction survey. The major focus of Bezos has been related to the needs and the demands of the customers. The delays and the out-of-stock products were the major issues that were being continuously addressed by the company. The leader has taken of the smallest details that can cause dissatisfaction to the customers. The employees have been working in a tireless manner to provide the best services to the customers. Bezos always has high levels of expectations from the employees. The leader is however never apologetic about the immense pressure that is experienced by the employees for the purpose of fulfilling his expectations (Owen 2015). The employees have always been made to work at the best of their capabilities to provide the highest levels of satisfaction to the customers. The leader has also recruited nearly 500 employees for the purpose of answering to the emails of the customers. The high expectations that are kept by Bezos from his employees has further led to the creation of an efficient machine which has now become famous for providing the facility same day delivery of various products to the customers. Bezos was always keen on improving the standards of his employees which has resulted in the creation of a successful and efficient organization (Redmond and Dolan 2016).
Unique Aspects of Jeff Bezos’ Leadership Style
The leadership related activities that have been developed by Bezos have been a lesson for many aspiring entrepreneurs in the modern business environment. The pearls of wisdom that have shared by Bezos over the years have been repetitive and constant on a common factor which is the satisfaction of the customers. The customers have always been the heart of the leadership of Bezos and the operations of Amazon. Bezos has been constantly adding new items to the huge product line of the company. The leadership related activities of the entrepreneur have also been changing with the changes that have occurred in the external environment of the organization. The managers of the company have been given the task of monitoring and adopting the various trends that have taken place externally. Bezos is currently concentrating highly on the development of the artificial intelligence based devices of the websites (Soria and Troisi 2014). Another major notion that was followed was related to the fact that the teams that have been showing high levels of performance need to work for the common goals of the organization as a whole. The issues that occur between the employees and the teams in the organization need to be escalated within time and solved by the management. The main point behind this policy of Amazon has been that Bezos expected fast actions and then quick resolution of the matters that occur between the teams or the employees.
The leader of Amazon was also known for his high levels of expectations from the employees and the ruthless nature as well. Bezos is also known for displaying his displeasure towards the employees quite openly within the organization. The workplace culture developed by Bezos in the organization is termed as brutal by many analysts. The workplace tirades in the organization are also quite infamous in nature. Amazon has proved to be tough competition for the organizations operating in the industry and Bezos has provided fierce competition to its close competitors. Bezos has also been criticised by the ex-employees of Amazon as a leader who has a ruthless nature and highly concerned about the productivity of the employees (Gagnon and Collinson 2014). Another move of Bezos that was criticised in the industry was related to the cutting of transportation perks so that the employees are not able to leave the workplace. The leader had also developed separate teams in the organization so that the competition between them would always keep them on their toes. Bezos had taken many drastic steps to fulfil the various objectives of the organization at any cost. The employees were threatened to be fired if they did not follow the instructions that were provided to them by the management (Mason, Griffin and Parker 2014).
Customer-centricity: The Heart of Jeff Bezos’ Leadership Philosophy
Conclusion
The research essay can be concluded by stating that Bezos was successful in evolving from an entrepreneur to an effective leader. The company has acquired the position of the online retail giant with the help of the unconventional style of leadership that was followed by Bezos. The performance oriented and transactional nature of the leadership had proved to be effective for the successful operations of Amazon in the industry. The leader had to however face huge criticism for the drastic steps that were taken by him to achieve the goals related to the increase of revenues of the company and its profitability as well. This analysis has proved that the leaders play an important role in the overall success of the organization
References
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