Leadership Management Assessment of Transformational

Leadership Management

Assessment of Transformational Leadership

The purpose of this analysis is to provide insights into the transformational leadership skills of Bruce Marlow, former CEO of 21st Century Insurance. Mr. Marlow has shown a consistent level of emotional intelligence (EI) and transformational leadership skills when faced with the many of the challenges inherent in operating a large-scale healthcare provider and insurer. The healthcare industry continues to be dominated by increasing calls for compliance at both the state and federal levels, creating significantly greater levels of uncertainty in the process (Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007). For CEOs to be effective in their roles in any area of the healthcare industry, it is critical they be as effective in leading change as they are in managing strategic planning and long-term development (Health Research and Educational Trust, 2007). Further, exceptional CEOs are also transformational leaders who have an ability to use situationally-driven logic and insight to ensure the highest performance (Fitzgerald, Schutte, 2010). The leadership expertise of Bruce Marlow is also analyzed using the ten core competencies of leadership as identified by the Baptist Leadership Institute. These include a leader who is a goal achiever, people developer, communicator, team-oriented, innovator, has a strong service commitment, is resourceful, rewards & recognizes, has personal mastery, and is organized around priorities.

Assessing Bruce Marlow on the Ten Core Competencies

Bruce Marlow's expertise as a leader emanates from his ability to quickly ascertain which specific leadership skill is best suited for the given needs of a situation or challenge. This is one of the most effective skills a leader can have in a keeping a complex, highly distributed organization aligned to its goals (Mindtools, 2012). The ten core competencies as defined by the Baptist leadership Institute are each used for evaluating the leadership skill of Bruce Marlow. First, his ability as a goal achiever is defined by the ability to set challenging, long-term goals and attain them through the coordination fo departments and divisions in the company. This has been seen first-hand. Second, the core competency of being a people developer is also evident in hwo Bruce Marlow often acts as a developmental leader in creating opportunities for personal growth. Third, the role of being a communicator is evident in how Bruce Marlow chooses the best possible communications channel for a given message, in addition to defining which specific series of steps need to be taken in each communication. Bruce Marlow uses communication to show not only future plans but why they are necessary. Fourth, his team-oriented leadership skill is outstanding, as he seeks to be all-inclusive in his work with everyone in the company. Fifth, the role of innovator is evident in how he manages the continuing adoption fo digital and Internet technologies into the company. Sixth, his service commitment is exceptional, as he has been known to work with many customers to solve problems and help them get to their goals as hospitals and healthcare providers. Seventh, he is exceptionally resourceful and willing to move beyond traditional boundaries to accomplish greater tasks than would have been possible otherwise. Eighth, his focus on rewards and recognition is well-known throughout the entire healthcare industry, as is focus on giving credit to employees who create exceptional insight into how best to solve complex problems facing the company. Ninth, his focus on personal mastery is also evident in how much he invests in personal training for his employees. Tenth, his focus on being organized around priorities is also seen in how he uses the Internet as a means to communicate what is most important to the company and why. These ten core competencies are what differentiate the best leaders and also show how effectively transformational leadership skills can be used for running a high performance organization (Dixon, Bilbrey, 2004).

Bruce Marlow also has the ability to create a culture of trust and transparency has a direct impact on the long-term performance of teams, which is another core attribute of transformational leadership (Fitzgerald, Schutte, 2010).