Leadership

Hey guys, here is a piece I wrote for examples of leadership. I thought that some of you might enjoy it.

Military and Civilian Leadership Excellence

            General Marshall and Mr. Marchionne, were both excellent leaders who displayed extremely innovative ideas for reform of their particular areas of responsibility. General Marshall’s postings as a professional and dedicated leader of various staff positions throughout his carrier, coupled with his overwhelming desire for efficiency, established within him solid experience as a leader. He continually took this experience with him to all his postings. Mr. Marchionne, developed a similar experience as an efficient leader with various civilian companies and brought this experience with him to Chrysler Group’s table.

Both, Marchionne and General Marshall, had a similar approach to leadership. General Marshall became known as a leader who did not shy away from difficult positions. When most other active duty officers would not have taken on the challenge of transforming the highly political National Guard, then Colonel Marshall highlighted his exceptional abilities by re-energizing it and making it more proficient. This assignment as the senior instructor for the Illinois National Guard and his leadership philosophy could have caused a tremendous political fall-out; however, his focus, determination, and vision for a more efficient organization led to a successful assignment for General Marshall and the National Guard as a whole. Marchionne took on the similar challenge and risk with Chrysler Group. He has demonstrated his exceptional leadership and ability to transform an organization, making it more efficient.

They both also had a philosophy of leadership that was considered radical. GEN Marshall was noted for employing his staff by demanding them to develop ways to accomplish missions and operations. He pursued this philosophy, which got his staffers to take ownership and responsibility of the missions, operations, and organizations. Mr. Marchionne had the similar approach to involving teams to take action. He revamped the traditional upper crust think tank by “flattening” it. This means that he sawed from the normal tradition of only making decisions based on the idea of the upper most echelon and began to employ sound ideas from other levels. Not only did this establish ideas from a new vantage point, but it also brought a re-energized feeling to the lower echelons, which got them to “buy-in” on the ideas and therefore, creating a fully dedicated workforce.

Mr. Marchionne and General Marshal are both exceptional examples of leaders at the highest level. They both had extraordinary visions of how to transform an organization that was considered radical by others.  They easily got other leaders at all levels within their organization to “buy-in” on their vision by employing them to develop ideas and strategies, which led those various leaders to put their best foot forward, because they now had a personal connection and investment to the organization and/or operation.

Work Cited:

Laver, Harry S., and Jeffrey J. Matthews. The Art Of Command, Military Leadership From George Washington To Colin Powell. Univ Pr of Kentucky, 2010. 60-91. Print.

Saporito, Bill, and Auburn Hills. Power Steering How Chrysler’s Italin Boss drives an American auto revival. Time, 2011. 36-41. Print