Analyzing the Historical Leaders Phenomenon Essay

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Leaders

Richard H. Anderson, CEO of Delta Airlines

Richard H. Anderson graduated from Houston University with a Bachelor's degree in Science, and holds a Juris Doctoral Degree, earned from South Texas's Law College. Anderson was Northwest Airlines' Chief Executive between 2001 and 2004 (his overall service for Northwest Airlines stretched between 1990 and 2004), and held the same position at Ingenix (or OptumInsight, Inc.) between 2005 and 2007, before taking the Executive VP (Vice President) position at the UnitedHealth Group Inc. from 2004 to 2007. Further, he held the position of New Commercial Services Group's President at the same organization from 2005 to 2007. He has held numerous executive posts since his joining the field in 1990, earning him the leadership skills he uses to drive organizations forward. Today, he serves as Delta Airlines' CEO, a position he has held since 1st September, 2007 (Bloomberg, 2016).

Jeff Smisek, former CEO of United Airlines

Jeffery (Jeff) A. Smisek graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (summa cum laude) from New Jersey's Princeton University, and in 1982 with a Juris Doctor Degree (magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School. He held the position of President and CEO at United Continental Holdings as well as United Airlines (earlier called Continental Airlines, a United Continental Holdings subsidiary), between 1st October, 2010 and 8th September, 2015. He served as Officer at Sybase, Inc., as well as President, Chairman, and CEO of Continental Airlines between 1st January, 2010 and September 2010 (Bloomberg, 2016). Identify, Compare, and Contrast the two Different Leadership Styles of Each One

Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Airlines

Richard Anderson is famous for his personable and open managerial style. In his role as Chief Executive of Northwest, he cultivated good personnel relations, by promoting informal, direct, communication among every staff member in the organization. This commitment towards open communication is manifested by his simple work e-mail ID - "Richard." Anderson's accessible approach aided him in initiating and maintaining the dialogue required between management and worker unions, for resolving organizational labor-related disputes. Another major characteristic of his executive leadership was that he maintained composure under pressure. Following Detroit's midfield terminal's opening in the year 2002, Tom Walsh, a journalist with Knight Ridder-Tribune Business News commented on Richard Anderson's visible excitement and pride when talking about this new facility. This sort of response was rare for a business executive who was known for his even-keeled, laidback, and calm attitude (Walsh, 2002).

Jeff Smisek former CEO of United Airlines

In a recent interview of Mr. Smisek with Fortune magazine's Geoff Colvin, the former, when talking about leadership, states that pride and belief form the key to motivation and culture in an organization. Smisek sets much store by culture, particularly when it comes to service organizations, and states that what they create represents a culture, on the basis of 2 things he learnt from his mom: 1) Never lie; and 2) Treat others the way you want them to treat you. He further remarks that one's company will deliver good service, if personnel enjoy working with one another, trust management and one another, and show pride in their organization. It is never sufficient to just train or lecture one's workforce; until they truly believe in the organization, have faith in management and one another, and show pride in their organization, one cannot achieve perfect service delivery (Smisek, 2011).

Smisek's leadership style is said to be pragmatic, with emphasis on pragmatic planning and what's really important. Consequently, his business approach is a simple "Go Forward" approach and his business strategy is in the form of a brief statement of organizational objectives on finance, operations, employees, and marketing. This plan is easily understandable to all employees, ranging from pilots to technical operations employees and ramp workers. What's important is given importance by all in the company. Smisek instructs his co-workers that if they are doing something that they cannot trace back to this Go Forward strategy, it must be immediately stopped, and their efforts must be diverted to something else. Nothing is worthwhile if it cannot be traced back to "the Plan" (Chimoff, 2011).

Jeff Smisek was removed as the head of the merged airline he formed in relation to ongoing federal investigation into the past head of the New Jersey and New York Port Authority. His resignation is closely related to the company's investigation into the conduct of David Samson, who was the head of the Port Authority.

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Jeff Smisek is accused of re-starting service from Newark to Columbia, S.C., near Mr. Samson's summer home in Aiken, S.C as a favor to prevent him from possibly withholding approval of financing agreements to build new united facilities at the Newark Airport. United reinstated a money-losing route from Newark to an airport near Samson's South Carolina vacation home, allegedly in exchange for Port Authority projects in New Jersey favoring United (Reed, 2015).

Good or Bad Leader

Richard Anderson

He finished on a good note: Aside from unquestionable financial success, some claim that one among the most contrarian standpoints of Anderson could be the source of good news for America's aviation industry. Anderson always stressed on doing one's homework. While this is a very basic tip, it was apparently crucial to Anderson's image and success. He is always prepared, understands business nuances, and makes sound decisions. This involves coming fully prepared to meetings (by reading documentation in advance). This saves one from struggling to catch-up before audiences. He also stressed on knowing when one must say "no." In case of leaders, this implies trusting that one has hired and created a self-sufficient team. In case of knowledge workers, it implies knowing when one must push back, in order to concentrate on the highest priority ventures with best outcomes. Bill Gates, Former CEO of Microsoft, stated that his success was partly on account of his focus on some things. Anderson did this by not accepting every meeting invite he received as a multinational company's leader (Johnson, 2014).

Jeff Smisek

Jeff Smisek aggravated an already bad situation; the airline is plagued by computer glitches, resulting in several thousand flights being grounded and several million clients being distressed. Thirty percent of United Airlines flights were delayed in June, while twenty-five percent were delayed in July, thus wreaking havoc for the company. United's scores on customer service have plummeted, with its customers being the least satisfied, of all major airline customers (with the exception of Allegiant, Spirit, and Frontier -- which are deep discount airliners not bothered with customer scores.) Loyal customers have shifted to other airline companies because of persistent bad experiences. Clearly, top management at the United was only concerned with cost cutting (dubbed ironically as "Project Quality"). Top management perceived operational efficiency to be the lone strategy, and how much the strategy disaffected customers, employees, or suppliers was not considered at all (Hartung, 2015).

Highlight and Compare Each Leader's Approach to Effectively Leading their Respective Mergers

Richard Anderson

One among the primary big tasks of Anderson's team was kick-starting the inevitable consolidation that was witnessed by the airline industry. A committee was formed for evaluating M&A (Merger & Acquisition) opportunities; roughly 30 meetings were held between 12 and 15 months for considering potential deals. The process was rather deliberate, and Anderson took care not to waste time at all. Barely some months after assuming the top post in the company, he announced his decision to merge with Northwest, an organization he once worked for. Mergers are invariably challenging, but the merger between Delta and Northwest was well-executed. Anderson's team did an incredible job, navigating through the ups and downs of the past many years, and created a mean, lean, punctual machine, while taking care not to destroy the company's legacy but, rather, strengthening it even further.

Anderson sharpened the merged airline's focus. It was evident to Delta that it needed to grow just beyond Atlanta's airline; thus, it made significant investments in key markets (CF, 2016).

Richard Anderson is a strategic leader who sees leadership as a pair of binoculars. This has allowed him to see into the future and plan for Delta airlines. From the start of his position as CEO, he has taken steps to prepare the business. This allowed the Delta Air Lines CEO to fundamentally change the U.S. airline industry. The merger of Northwest and Delta Airlines he led resulted in massive consolidation in the U.S. airline sector -- and a rare era of profits. He arrived at the business just after it emerged from bankruptcy-court protection, successfully merged it with Northwest one year later, and he personally built the new company into a very profitable firm with the largest market capitalization of any U.S. airline with $34 billion. This single act sparked a flame of consolidations that gave the U.S. industry a fighting chance for the first time in decades. Under Anderson's watch, Delta.....

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