To me a great leader is the one establishing something from nothing. A leader makes a company grow and prosper not just simply grabbing competitors’ market shares but the vision of creating a brand new industry and the world become better place to live. Influence other associated things around us and we also benefit from the change he or she made in the long term. A great leader is also aware of the company itself has social responsibilities, such as provide job opportunities not just for high talents but also for seniors and have a good conscience on protecting environment.
A leader not just put challenge to the subordinates; he or she also challenges him or herself first. Realizing an authority may move a man, but the soul always belongs to the man. Persuade the opportunity and keep the promise while others having doubt. Showing respect to all the others inputs, and also is a great listener and an executer. Maintain the company always at the cutting edge and keep focus on innovation.
Two leaders possess certain unique leadership characters that I listed as above. One is Meg Whitman - the previous eBay CEO – and the other one is Robert Noyce, cofounder of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor.
Meg Whitman is one of the few females CEO receive well recognition on the field was dominated by males. Her motto - refuse to fail - is the essential spirit keep her constantly deliver the result. She made eBay grows from 4 million dollar company to a revenue of 8 billion annually with 16,000 employees in 10 years. eBay’s online auction concept creates a brand new industry. The business model rely more on the mutual trust and cohesion from the customers - buyers & sellers - interface with the auction platform rather than how well the organizational structure or management skill of the company itself. eBay helps small business owners run the business online and currently 1.3 million eBay customers running business at eBay for living. Meg Witman’s determination to meet the challenge, refuse to accept failure as the option, and insightful vision on firmly believing eBay business model will thrive and encourage the staffs to reach such goal are the key factors that makes eBay extremely successful.
Robert Noyce is the other type of leader with distinctive characters that I respect. He is the person who creates and starts the legend of Silicon Valley. Robert is the inventor of integrated circuit (IC). His impassioned vision on manufacturing IC on silicon base as a simple and cost effective approach is the key that ICs so popular and become one of the most essential elements for our modern world. He further delivered the birth of Fairchild semiconductor in 1957 with a group of 8 young talent men and grew Fairchild to 11,000 employees’ company in 10 years. Robert later he joined Intel as a cofounder and successful re-coursed the Intel from DRAM oriented business to microprocessor giant while facing fierce competition from Japan in 1980s. His creativity, lead by example, risk taking and determination brought the great success of Fairchild semiconductor and Intel. Robert Noyce makes Fairchild and Intel both companies shine way ahead of the glories of Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, EMC, Yahoo or Google shown from the historical technology roadmap. Furthermore, these prestigious companies were built upon the foundation of ICs that invented by Robert Noyce 50 years ago without exception.
However, Robert Noyce is not a superhero. For many years his personal life was difficult, and he was not entirely without faults in this area. To me, every single leader, no matter how great he or she is - still is a human being. We fully accept both the glowing and dimming parts just simply because no one is perfect. The key is: whether a leader always thinks about is not just making a great achievement for himself only but all the people around will benefit.
Developing of Leadership is through a process of self awareness, digest the knowledge learned from the experience, it’s a continuous process. All of great leaders learn how to follow before lead. We can't really understand what is going on now unless we look back what came and happened before.
A great leader should have the following values embedded into the leadership:
Vision – Understand the trend, well plan and execute what is to come. Convenience and inspire others have passion and courage to follow and sacrifice. Then empower the staffs when they have good sense of responsibility and accountability.
Integrity -- speak the truth, be brave and safeguard the conscience always, even if it leads to face the challenge obstacles.
Creativity – understand the innovation is the key for team to prosper and survive. Think untraditional solution is the key to solve problem as we face obstacles.
Persistence – Once a goal being set, needs to think how to get there. If hits the wall will find the path.
Teamwork – well communicate so all the team members can work together to achieve the desired objective. Share knowledge and experience among others.
I admire and respect different role models from time to time. All the leaders have one thing in common –be the best of themselves. For me the life journey is to be the best of myself and searching the meaning of life so my mind and heart can rest upon it.
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