Howard Schultz's Leadership

Leading Complex Organizations: An Entrepreneurial Perspective Howard Schultz is one of the transformational leaders in the modern business environment given his role in creation and development of a successful company i.e. Starbucks. Starbucks is renowned for its long standing record of growth, profitability, and success, which is a reflection of effective leadership towards making money. The growth and profitability of Starbucks is largely attributed to the leadership of Howard Schultz. Actually, Schultz has utilized an effective leadership and communication style that has contributed to the development of Starbucks.

In contrast, General George Patton is also renowned as a transformational leader who has been idolized as an all-powerful leader. General George Patton achieved tremendous success because of his ability to empower and inspire others when commanding his troops to follow him. However, there are significant similarities and differences in the leadership styles of Howard Schultz and General George Patton. Profile of Howard Schultz As previously mentioned, Howard Schultz is renowned for utilizing effective leadership and communication style to promote the growth and development of Starbucks.

Schultz led the company and built or developed it into a global brand after purchasing it and assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer in 1987 (Sardelli, 2013). Generally, Howard Schultz had a vision that he used to develop a successful company before stepping down from the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2008. Following Schultz's decision to step down, Starbucks experienced significant challenges, which had considerable impact on its operations and productivity.

However, Schultz returned to the position of Chief Executive Officer at Starbucks in 2008 in order to transform a failing company that was experiencing major challenges from huge self-induced financial losses. Schultz's return was geared towards rebuilding a branding that echoed a positive culture to all stakeholders at a time when the world was experiencing an economic recession. His biggest challenged upon return was identifying an effective way for preserving and improving the company's culture, guiding principles, and trust from its customers and potential customers (Ignatius, 2010).

After developing an effective strategy, Howard Schultz achieved his objective of rebuilding the company and achieved huge success. Schultz attributed the achievement of his objectives to effective communication, relationship-building, and listening skills. Howard Schultz v. General George Patton Howard Schultz and General George Patton are good examples of leaders who utilized effective leadership styles to motivate their followers or subordinates towards the achievement of mutual goals or objectives. Nonetheless, these leaders have some similarities and differences relating to their leadership styles despite their successes in the different endeavors.

One of the similarities between the two is their use of effective communication styles to motivate their juniors. General George Patton was an ardent believer in communicating to an extent that he usually kept a microphone nearby (Cohen, 2009). Similarly, Schultz utilized communication and listening skills to achieve his objective of rebuilding Starbucks. Secondly, Schultz and General Patton used effective inspirational style to motivate their subordinates towards established goals. General Patton used his personal example to inspire an army to carry out the frightening business of war (Power, 2014).

One of the differences between the two leaders is that Schultz focused on acting ethically whereas General Patton was a strong leader guided by certain principles. General Patton was a strong leader who had certain principles that governed his life while Schultz focused on ensuring Starbucks acted ethically as established in its organizational culture ("A Study of General George," 2005).

Secondly, Schultz has constantly demonstrated empathy and compassion while giving his best efforts to serve, which has contributed to his reputation as a courageous and compassionate leader ("Howard Schultz's Connection and Leadership," 2015). On the contrary, General Patton was autocratic with a preference for strong discipline though he also utilized situational leadership style. Effectiveness and Weaknesses of Howard Schultz Given the growth and profitability of Starbucks, Howard Schultz has largely been effective in utilizing a real business opportunity to create a destination and sense of community across the firm's stores (Geffen, 2014).

Schultz's effectiveness is also demonstrated in using communication, listening, and relationship-building skills to develop a successful and highly profitable global brand. Through this process, he has taken the business personally and fostered innovation in the development of Starbucks' new categories and experiences (Kaplan, 2014). However, Schultz has several weaknesses including failure to have a successor ready from within the company, which contributed to a troubled period after his resignation from the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2008 (Grams, 2009).

In addition, Schultz has seemingly developed his leadership role and task into a cult that makes it difficult for other leaders to develop. Recommendations and Lessons In light of his weaknesses, one of the major recommendations for Howard Schultz is to promote the development of leadership within the organization in order to ensure his successor is already within the company. Secondly, Schultz needs to ensure the company increases store traffic in order to create future growth (Graham, 2010).

Generally, Howard Schultz is an example of exemplary leadership who has successfully created a profitable and successful global brand. The main lessons other can obtain from him is how to use effective leadership styles in combination with communication, listening, and relationship-building skills. In conclusion, Howard Schultz is renowned as one of transformational and highly successful leaders because of his role in creating a successful and profitable global brand i.e. Starbucks.

Together with General George Patton, Schultz effectively shows the use of various leadership styles towards the achievement of mutual goals and objectives. Given his contributions towards the success of Starbucks, Schultz is regarded as one of the successful leaders.