Entrepreneurial leadership: characteristics and practice

Leadership

Create a hybrid theory/philosophy which combines the common elements found in the thinking of Case, Kouzes, and Drucker. In your philosophy, be sure to include the new definition of entrepreneurial leadership presented in Understanding Entrepreneurial Leadership in today's Dynamic Markets.

The new definition of entrepreneurial leadership as defined by the article Understanding entrepreneurial leadership in today's dynamic markets is a leader who is enterprising, transformational and who "operates in a dynamic market that offers lucrative opportunities" (Tarabishy, Fernald Jr., Solomon, p. 5). These words are rather ludicrous on their face, due to the fact that this is not a new definition whatsoever; it is a definition that has been around for decades, if not centuries. Therefore to base a 'new theory' on such an old theory makes no sense at all. Instead, the author will focus on using the words of Case, Drucker and Kouzas as a foundation for a theory that can be used to define today's leader. Since it can be argued that today's current leaders (whether they are defined as entrepreneurs or not) essentially exhibit the same type of characteristics. Ergo, a leader is a leader.

However, Tarabishy et al. do provide some basis for determining leadership traits. They state that clarity, communication, consistency, caring, creating opportunities, self-confidence, power need and its use, and vision are all qualities shared by today's leaders (p. 5).

Peter Drucker, a management consultant espouse the fact that business leaders who view their employees as valuable resources and who enable those resources the ability to achieve set objectives and goals will likely be the most effective leaders in business.

Drucker also makes a strong point of the fact that workers need to feel a sense of control and that good leaders will allow their employees to feel that sense; and that both leader and employee will benefit (Drucker, 1983).

The author's leadership theory comprises not only Tarabishy and Drucker's words, but also the words of Steve Case and Jim Kouzes. Case, former CEO and the founder of AOL, states that today's business leaders should exhibit three traits; 1) perseverance, 2) passion, 3) caring for people (Nakagawa, 2010) while Kouzes, a long-time management guru and co-author of the book The Leadership Challenge states that there are five characteristics displayed by the strong leader; the leader will 1) Model the way, 2) Inspire a shared vision, 3) Challenge the process, 4) Enable others to Act, and 5) Encourage the heart (Kouzes, Posner, 2007).

The author's theory is that there are three primary themes that many theorists incorporate into the various theories. The author feels that a true leader will display a strong sense of vision and purpose; vision of what exactly the leader wishes to accomplish and a purposeful nature on how to accomplish that objective. Additionally, the leader will have to encourage the employees to share in that vision, so the leader will have to have the capability of inspiring individuals with motivation and a sense of desire. The leader can accomplish that by being motivated at the same time and showing not being afraid to show that motivation. Last but not least the truly effective leader will bring a sense of adaptability to any project, situation or scenario. Adapting to the changing tide that moves business is likely the one characteristic that most often leads to the success of the leader, while lack of adaptability will surely lead to failure.

2 Describe what type of organization a transactional, transformational, and authentic leader would thrive in the most, as well as which type of leader would thrive the least. Explain your response using at least one (1) additional source.

Clearly a transactional leader would not do well in a leadership capacity using the author's proposed theory. Transactional leaders are not necessarily concerned with the employees who work with, or for, the leader, but is a leader who will more likely order the employee to take action, rather than inspire the employee to take action.

The transformational leader is one that would do well under the proposed system. A recent article states that transformational leaders are ones whose actions "motivate followers to do more than expected and act for the good of the collective" (Fu, Tsui, Liu, Li, 2010, p. 222). Motivating employees for the good of the company is exactly what is expected from the proposed scenario. Implementing a simple theory such as the one proposed is perfect for the leader who is good at transforming those who surround him.

The authentic leader according to one recent study is the individual who reported that their stories "involved overcoming difficult experiences and using these events to give meaning to their lives" (George, Sims, McLean, Mayer, 2007, p. 129). The proposed theory would likely work well for the authentic leader, as long as the 'story' were truly authentic. Overcoming hardship has a certain sense of appeal to the masses and many times the leader who can successfully convey the message to the employees, especially if the employees know that the leader has had to overcome difficulties, brings a certain sense of camaraderie and willingness to go above and beyond what is expected.

The transactional leader would likely fare the worse when compared to the other two theories.

3. Evaluate the resources and tools available through the Small Business Administration and SCORE, and determine which single resource or tool is most useful to the greatest number of businesses. Explain your rationale.

The resources found most useful by the greatest number of businesses would likely be the e-business Now program offered by SCORE. The reason why this could be beneficial to the greatest number of businesses is because it is geared to small business owners by providing e-news, marketing and commerce tips. Small business owners make up the vast majority of businesses globally and a large percentage of those are likely to be interested in expanding their reach through the use of e-commerce. Therefore, anything like the NOW program as offered by SCORE would definitely score with those owners and managers of small business entities.