Assessment Description
The purpose of this assignment is for students to identify and discuss different leadership theories exemplified in business leaders. Students will also describe power bases leaders use to resolve challenges and explain behaviors that leaders should demonstrate or avoid in order to be successful.
Identify one business leader you either know personally or are able to gain access to for the purpose of conducting an interview. Examples include, but are not limited to, former or current managers, educational leaders, civic/business leaders, and religious leaders. The leader must be within the C-suite, vice presidential, or middle managerial capacity of an organization or department with at least 25 employees. Please note that your chosen leader must first be approved by your instructor. This interview can take place virtually over video conference (e.g., Zoom) or in person.
Part I: Interview
In advance of the interview, be sure to read and understand the presentation guidelines below and be prepared to ask additional/follow-up questions to ensure that information adequate enough to address each point has been retrieved. For example, you would not necessarily want to ask a leader about the power base(s) they have utilized, as they may not know what you are talking about, but you will want to have enough information pertaining to how the leader handled their challenge to articulate which power base(s) you believe they used.
Additionally, refer to the attached “Characteristics of Leadership” resource prior to the interview to review the skills and characteristics associated with servant leadership. Note that during the interview, you will walk through this form with the interviewee and fill it out as you talk through the questions together. Do not give the form to the interviewee and expect them to fill it out independently.
As you conduct the interview, take thorough notes. It is optional but recommended that you record the interview so you may refer back to it as you complete the remaining parts of the assignment. Students must receive permission from the interviewee to record the interview.
Address all of the following questions with your interviewee:
Background Information:
Address the basics with your interviewee:
Who are you?
Where do you work? How long have you been there in your role?
Interview Topics:
Reflect upon either your current job or a previous one:
Which industry is/was representative of the organization, what is/was your role, and how long have you been or were you in that position?
Consider your greatest career achievement in that role. Provide details including the time period and the persons, products, and services involved. What management principles, strategies, or processes did you employ that you believe led to this effective organizational outcome? Why do you consider this achievement to have been so impactful? Refer to Part A of the “Characteristics of Leadership” resource: “On a scale of 1-5, to what extent did you utilize each of these skills toward your greatest achievement?”
Consider one significant challenge you previously faced in that role. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome? Provide details including the time period, persons, products, services, competition, market conditions, etc. that may have been involved. Refer to Part B of the “Characteristics of Leadership” resource: “On a scale of 1-5 to what extent did you utilize each of these skills in overcoming your significant challenge?”
What was the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization, and how were they accomplished? How essential is the entrepreneurial mindset in achieving the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization? Refer to Part C of the “Characteristics of Leadership” resource: “On a scale of 1-5, to what extent did you utilize each of these skills with respect to the entrepreneurial mindset?” Please provide an example.
Apart from servant leadership and the entrepreneurial mindset, please identify two significant lessons/attributes that are essential for success. Describe anything you wish you would have specifically avoided that may have derailed or delayed your success?
Part II: Leadership Comparison
Please choose one of the following business leaders: Jack Welch, Colleen Barrett, Indira Nooyi, Anne Mulcahy, Howard Schultz, Larry Page, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Richard Branson, Susan Wojcicki, Marissa Mayer, Mary Barra, Ursula Burns, Marvin Ellison, Corie Barry, Phebe Novakovic, Michell Gass, J. Paul Raines, George Paz, Satya Nadella, Kenneth Frazier, Jessi Baker, or KoAnne Vikoren Skrzyniarz. Please note: if you would like to select a business leader not provided on this list, the selection must first be approved by your instructor.
In preparation for Part III, you will conduct research to compare the leadership style used by your selected leader (interviewed in Part I) with the style of a well-known business leader from the provided list (Part II), preferably in the same industry (e.g., technology, finance, hospitality, etc.). Investigate the strengths and weaknesses of both leadership styles. Your analysis will be presented in the “Leadership Style Comparison” and “Leadership Lessons” sections of Part III.
Part III
The first five sections outlined below are based upon your interview above in Part I in addition to your corresponding research. Address the following in your presentation under the appropriate headings:
Business Leader Description
Identify the leader and justify the selection of that particular leader.
Discuss the organizations with which the leader is affiliated and the industry in which that the leader is most recognized.
Discuss how long the leader has been in a leadership position.
Application of Leadership Theory
Discuss which leadership theory best describes the chosen leader’s approach to leading people.
Greatest Career Achievement of Leader
Describe the leader’s greatest career achievement(s).
Provide justification on why this achievement was so impactful. Include which management principles, strategies, or processes they employed that led to this effective organizational outcome and improved stakeholder behavior.
Using the attached “Characteristics of Leadership” document, complete Part A based on your conversation with your leaders. Use the Likert scale provided to rate the extent to which the respondent (i.e., the interviewed leader) demonstrated servant leadership characteristics when they experienced their greatest success. Review the leader’s score earned for each skill in this area and provide an explanation of how these elements relate to the leader’s greatest career achievement.
Handling a Challenge
Identify the significant career challenge the leader faced.
Explain how the leader handled the challenge.
Based on your perspective, differentiate whether the response aligns more with a managerial role or a leadership role.
Using the attached “Characteristics of Leadership” document, complete Part B based on your conversation with your leaders. Use the Likert scale provided to rate the extent to which the respondent (i.e., the interviewed leader) demonstrated servant leadership characteristics when they experienced their most significant challenge. Review the leader’s score earned for each skill in this area and provide an explanation of how it relates to the handling of the challenge.
Power Bases and Impact of Behavior
Based upon the responses received in Item 3 of Part I (above), describe which power base(s) you feel the leader utilized in handling or resolving the challenge and justify your choice.
Discuss the impact of the leader’s behavior on the situation based on the power base demonstrated.
The two sections below are based upon your research on your selected leader in Part II as well as the lessons learned in the interview in Part I.
Leadership Style Comparison
Compare the leadership style used by your selected leader in Part II with the style of the selected, well-known business leader in the same industry.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both leadership styles.
Leadership Lessons
Discuss the relationship between the organizational mission, vision, and strategy and the entrepreneurial mindset. Using the attached “Characteristics of Leadership” document, complete Part C and use the Likert scale provided to rate the extent to which the respondent (i.e., the interviewed the leader) associated the entrepreneurial mindset with achieving the organizations mission, vision, and strategy. Review the score earned for each skill in this area and provide an explanation of how they relate to exhibiting an entrepreneurial mindset as described above.
Identify and explain three behaviors that a leader should demonstrate or avoid in order to be successful.
Provide justification for the behaviors selected.
Reflections
Why did you choose to interview the leader in Part I, and why did you choose the selected leader in Part II?
Reflecting upon the interview, what challenges did you face?
What additional or follow-up questions did you ask in order to arrive at the responses you provided within your presentation?
What did you learn from this process with respect to being an effective leader?
