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...

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,…