What has AOL been doing and how do they plan to succeed?
AOL CEO, Tim Armstrong, has big hopes for the internet service AOL. HE wanted to become the third largest internet service provider in the world. His business currently stands at fifth behind Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. His plans to expand and advertise make me look at him as a leader more than a manager.
Tim Armstrong has been pushing for his employees to step up their efforts since last year when he made up a slogan "Beat the Internet." Knowing that the internet is a huge, ginormous service/idea, he was implying to his employees to think big. He wanted new and fresh ideas.
I like Tim's mind set because he says in an interview that he knows it doesn't sound very ambitious to be the third largerest in the internet industry, but when you look up what you going against, it is pretty damn impressive. He has ideas to merge with yahoo in order to compete with the top two, Facebook and Google, but more short term goals and being thought of every day. For instance, he wants to expand AOL to 12 different countries before the year is over and continue to advertise for more oppurtunities.
Why is Tim a good fit for AOL?
Leadership involves influencing people and i think Tim Armstrong as the influential trait and a motivational attitude which helps him be a more effective leader. The way he was to be one of the world lager internet service is larger than anything I can think of. When trying to compete with companies such as Facebook and Google, the man in charge has to be ready for a battle and know how to lead a group of employees to think out of the box and always stay fresh. Tim is the founder of the United Football League and is a former president of Google's America operations.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/09/20/aol-ceo-tim-armstrong-our-goal-is-to-be-no-3/
-Matt Kester
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Future of International Development and Conflict Resolution
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2011/09/19/dr-david-kilcullen-on-the-future-of-conflict-and-international-development/
How would you try to bring peace to the world? Dr. David Kilcullen is the founding CEO and President of Caerus, a group specializing in design of positive human influence in complex and conflicted environments. They take community development programs to a new level and focus in areas like Afghanistan. Its hard to say exactly what they do in each situation, but they have major projects in the fields of education, technology, energy, analytics and humanitarian assistance.
What makes him a leader?
Dr. Kilcullen is leading all kinds of change. When he saw traditional organizations, like charities or governments, were not effective enough in creating sustainable peace in the war-torn areas, he established this meaningful vision and direction and aligned a team to get started on Caerus. The trick with their business is it faces not just one old problem, but a complex one which as Dr. Kilcullen puts it, "the world’s most difficult problems – conflict, crime, energy shortage, poverty, climate and environmental degradation, disease – overlap in mutually exacerbating ways that make it extremely difficult for any one discipline to address them." To complement the inspiring and motivating vision of social good is how much the program enables those involved and who benefit from it. When a small team is deployed to a community, they actually asess the people and communicate their goals and receive the groups needs. His strategy of addressing each situation by its own, sets an example for how to accomplish these kinds of goals. He is revolutionizing the way we see organizations as a whole.
So what does this all mean?
Dr. David Kilcullen leads by example and exhibits authentic leadership. His experience and knowledge were reformulated into a vision for addressing these overlapping problems. The work he led to creation is original and is based on values. The strategies he used in making the organization reverberates throughout it. Although this organization is less than two years old, it now runs through about ten million in revenue and has a multi-year backlog of work. The social judgement skills needed to rally this support are seen in the perspective taking each team uses when facing a community. Because he refuses to impose western ideas on these people, they were more trusting. The affect? In Baghdad, their efforts supported locals durimg an effort against Al Quida which brought about a ninety-five percent reduction in civilian casulties in a three month period.
His complex solution has created a community in which the followers, whether workers or beneficiaries, who are motivated and inspired. They follow his strategies and are exhibiting them in many ways. How do you see this energy exemplified? Does he exhibit any other kinds of leadership?
How would you try to bring peace to the world? Dr. David Kilcullen is the founding CEO and President of Caerus, a group specializing in design of positive human influence in complex and conflicted environments. They take community development programs to a new level and focus in areas like Afghanistan. Its hard to say exactly what they do in each situation, but they have major projects in the fields of education, technology, energy, analytics and humanitarian assistance.
What makes him a leader?
Dr. Kilcullen is leading all kinds of change. When he saw traditional organizations, like charities or governments, were not effective enough in creating sustainable peace in the war-torn areas, he established this meaningful vision and direction and aligned a team to get started on Caerus. The trick with their business is it faces not just one old problem, but a complex one which as Dr. Kilcullen puts it, "the world’s most difficult problems – conflict, crime, energy shortage, poverty, climate and environmental degradation, disease – overlap in mutually exacerbating ways that make it extremely difficult for any one discipline to address them." To complement the inspiring and motivating vision of social good is how much the program enables those involved and who benefit from it. When a small team is deployed to a community, they actually asess the people and communicate their goals and receive the groups needs. His strategy of addressing each situation by its own, sets an example for how to accomplish these kinds of goals. He is revolutionizing the way we see organizations as a whole.
So what does this all mean?
Dr. David Kilcullen leads by example and exhibits authentic leadership. His experience and knowledge were reformulated into a vision for addressing these overlapping problems. The work he led to creation is original and is based on values. The strategies he used in making the organization reverberates throughout it. Although this organization is less than two years old, it now runs through about ten million in revenue and has a multi-year backlog of work. The social judgement skills needed to rally this support are seen in the perspective taking each team uses when facing a community. Because he refuses to impose western ideas on these people, they were more trusting. The affect? In Baghdad, their efforts supported locals durimg an effort against Al Quida which brought about a ninety-five percent reduction in civilian casulties in a three month period.
His complex solution has created a community in which the followers, whether workers or beneficiaries, who are motivated and inspired. They follow his strategies and are exhibiting them in many ways. How do you see this energy exemplified? Does he exhibit any other kinds of leadership?
The Growing Gap Between the Leader and Follower
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2008/ca20081024_293040.htm?chan=careers_managing+your+company+page_top+stories
There are many aspects that define one in a leadership position. Some would say that leaders are born into the position and others are molded to fit the position. At any rate, the leader must make an effort to actively listen their followers for the company to be successful. There are certain CEO's that have received the term "Imperial" CEO for their leadership style. These leaders distance themselves from the ones that they lead. This makes it difficult for their followers to input their ideas and aid in the decision making process of those in the driver’s seat.
What types of competencies do these leaders possess?
We can look at the three competencies that a leader should possess. Problem-Solving Skills are those that require the leader to come up with a solution for problems that are out of the ordinary and unusual in nature. Leaders with the "imperial" way of leading would have to be pretty good with their problem-solving skills. They are not going to want anyone else to help them with their decision, especially their followers. Social Judgment Skills are the capacity to understand people and social systems that would enable the leader to solve difficult problems within the organization. A CEO with this "imperial" mindset might have a strong set of problem-solving skills, but they would not receive any help from the ones they lead because they make it increasingly difficult for the followers to have an input. Knowledge is the competency that relates to the application and implementation of problem-solving skills in organizations. This skill would be lacking in a leader of this type. They would have difficulty in implementing their problem-solving skills because they would not actively communicate with their followers who would most likely oversee the implementation process.
What would this leader's style be?
Most of these leaders are concerned for the financial assets of the company. This makes it hard for the followers to address these leaders when the leader's main concern is for the bottom line. I would categorize these leaders into the Authority-Compliance Management section of the leadership grid. This styles approach is focused on a concern for results and has minimal human element interference. Communication to the followers is usually for the purpose of instructions about the task at hand.
-Brandon Leitschuh
There are many aspects that define one in a leadership position. Some would say that leaders are born into the position and others are molded to fit the position. At any rate, the leader must make an effort to actively listen their followers for the company to be successful. There are certain CEO's that have received the term "Imperial" CEO for their leadership style. These leaders distance themselves from the ones that they lead. This makes it difficult for their followers to input their ideas and aid in the decision making process of those in the driver’s seat.
What types of competencies do these leaders possess?
We can look at the three competencies that a leader should possess. Problem-Solving Skills are those that require the leader to come up with a solution for problems that are out of the ordinary and unusual in nature. Leaders with the "imperial" way of leading would have to be pretty good with their problem-solving skills. They are not going to want anyone else to help them with their decision, especially their followers. Social Judgment Skills are the capacity to understand people and social systems that would enable the leader to solve difficult problems within the organization. A CEO with this "imperial" mindset might have a strong set of problem-solving skills, but they would not receive any help from the ones they lead because they make it increasingly difficult for the followers to have an input. Knowledge is the competency that relates to the application and implementation of problem-solving skills in organizations. This skill would be lacking in a leader of this type. They would have difficulty in implementing their problem-solving skills because they would not actively communicate with their followers who would most likely oversee the implementation process.
What would this leader's style be?
Most of these leaders are concerned for the financial assets of the company. This makes it hard for the followers to address these leaders when the leader's main concern is for the bottom line. I would categorize these leaders into the Authority-Compliance Management section of the leadership grid. This styles approach is focused on a concern for results and has minimal human element interference. Communication to the followers is usually for the purpose of instructions about the task at hand.
-Brandon Leitschuh
Friday, September 16, 2011
Climbing the ladder at DuPont
By: Tyler Wiesemeyer
For the common person giving up your dream job for an opportunity that seemed to be destined to fail would be an easy proposition to turn down. However when Ellen Kullman was presented with just that she hesitantly accepted the proposal. At first Ellen though that it was a suicide mission to start a consulting business around the company’s safety practices because DuPont was an entity that sold products, not services. Also DuPont had been notorious for moving someone out of the executive realm by asking them to “take on a special project,” and furthermore give up on your development as a manager/leader.
Is Helen a Leader or a manager?
This would have been an easy way for Ellen to go about her decision on the proposal, but she took a completely different path. Ellen decided that in order to really prove herself a leader she must spearhead this task. Although her mentors and spouse urged her not to embark on the mission, she did so in hopes of unveiling her conceptual skills. As skills theory sates, there is no doubt that Ellen had high technical and human skills with her previous endeavors as vice president and a successful engineer. But this mission really showed her ability to create a vision and bring to life a multimillion dollar business.
Did the exemplification of Skills and traits slingshot Ellen into the CEO position?
In this example I feel as if skills and traits absolutely legitimized Ellen as the right person for the position of CEO at DuPont. Her bravery, ingenuity, and ability to materialize a highly successful service based project within a product driven company clearly showed that Ellen has personal, technical, and conceptual skills to say the least. Also traits such as intelligence, dertermination, and self-confidence were identified throughout the process. Although there may be some discrepancies with the legitimacy of skills and trait theories respectively, I feel as if they are very good indicators of a successful leader when used correctly and in accordance with the situation.
Please feel free to comment on the article and answer these questions in your own words, as well as sparking some conversation with your own opinions on Ellen’s story if you so desire. Hope you all enjoy this success story as much as I did.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Introduction
Hello. We are Team 4 in MQM 382 Organizational Leadership. Our team consists of four members: Brandon Leitschuh, Tyler Wiesemeyer, Matt Kester, and Matt Mimnangh. During the course of this semester we will be discussing current leadership events in the world today. We will be discussing the qualities of those leaders, their differing leadership styles and overall effectiveness. Our blog will most closely resemble the theme found in the " Keeping It Real Blog".
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