Mark Zuckerberg
Instructions: Many names have been recognized as notable business leaders. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Welch, and Colleen Barrett are all leaders identified for their unique approach to leading people. Please review the “Contemporary Business Leaders” document to locate more business leaders. Select one leader from that list and respond to the following questions.
Discuss (1,250-1,500 words) what you learned about the selected individual as a leader and the leadership style used. Include the following in your discussion:
Identify a leader and justify why you selected that particular leader. What organization(s) is the leader affiliated with? In what industry is the leader recognized? How long was the leader in a leadership position?
Discuss which leadership theory best describes the chosen leader’s approach to leading people.
What was the leader’s greatest achievement?
Identify a significant challenge the leader faced and how the challenge was handled. Did the response align more with a managerial role or a leadership role?
What power base did the leader use in handling or resolving the challenge?
Compare the leadership style used by your selected leader against that of the leader’s successor/predecessor (or competitor if successor/predecessor is not applicable). Was there a difference in the leadership style? Which leader do you think is more effective and why?
Include a personal reflection and identify two to three attributes you hope to emulate or avoid (based on studying this leader) in order to be a successful leader.
You are required to use at least two external sources to provide evidence to support the leadership style your selected leader showed. This should not be completed based on an opinion.
Solution
Mark Zuckerberg leadership styles
Leadership one of the most important aspects of that influences the strategic directions taken by organizations. The global leadership arena is teeming with examples of leaders who have had a significant impact on the success of their organizations, as well as others who have brought down otherwise stable institutions. The subject of discussion for this paper is Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Facebook, a leading social networking company based In California, United States. According to his personal profile on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, born in 1984, is a an American programmer and entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook in 2004 while still at Harvard University and has been the chairman and Chief executive since its inception. The authors’ choice of leader is based on the outstanding achievements of Zuckerberg at his age, as well as the dynamic social networking industry in which his company operates.
During his tenure, Facebook has grown in numbers from the small social network that linked the Harvard University students to the largest networking site, overtaking MySpace in 2008. According to the NASDAQ stock exchange, Facebook which operates in the Internet segment was valued at $17.928 billion in 2015, making Zuckerberg, who owns at least 53% of the company one of the fifth richest people in the world, according to the latest Forbes ranking (www.forbes.com). It’s boasts of 1.65 billion users as of 2016 and has at least 13,596 employees.
Leadership theory
As a young leader, not much has been written about his leadership styles. There are however various interviews, discussions as well as employee confessions that provide a sneak preview of what kind of leader he is. According to an interview by Advise America, training and management firm, Zuckerberg’s transformational leadership style is evident from his aggressive and encouraging behavior, pushing his staff to achieve their potential while contributing positively to the attainment of the organizational vision. According to Bass (1990), transformational leadership exhibits charisma, provides intellectual stimulation, considers, pays personal attention and respects the subordinates, is visionary and provides inspiration.
Zuckerberg is described as a person who has high demands for growth and innovation, seeing that Facebook operates in the ever changing technology world; this ensures that the site comes up with new ideas that are in line with the user’s needs and preferences. He loves challenges and debates and also pushes employees to exceed their targets, which make his subordinates work, sometimes under pressure and stressful conditions which ensure that the company delivers. A good example is when the networking site is down; he is known to push engineers to restore service without delay, which could be stressful at times. Some of his employees, therefore, regard him as ‘tough and fair’ (thebusinessinsider.com, 2012).
As a person of his words, he is never intimidated by his board of directors and is sometimes known to make unilateral decisions if he feels that such decisions would be beneficial to the company and its users, highlighting his autocratic side. He is also aware of his weaknesses and is often open to suggestions ideas from his subordinates, most cases, incorporating their ideas in the decisions that he makes concerning the company, which highlights his Democratic leadership element.
His greatest achievement is the founding one of the pioneer social networking sites at the young age of 20, and subsequently leading it to become the largest and most profitable social networking company as of to date. Over the years, Zuckerberg has also been a leading philanthropist, donating millions of dollars to charitable causes all over the world including their memorable contribution to education such as the Newark public learning institutions and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. In 2014, after the birth of their daughter Max, Zuckerberg with his wife Chan announced a lifetime donation of 99% of their holding at Facebook, a feat never achieved before.
Challenges
Just like any leader in business, Zuckerberg has faced many challenges in ensuring that Facebook attains and retains its position as the leading social networking site in the world. Key among those challenges is competition from indigenous and upcoming social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, snap chat, WhatsApp among others. Capitalizing on the downsides of Facebook from complaints such as the content distribution, user policies and the perception of Facebook to be the site for mostly young and mindless people whose discussions and posts are deemed not mature enough, privacy challenges among others, have made many Facebook users to terminate their accounts and shift to more ‘mature’ sites such as Twitter. Other entrants such as Whatsapp have ultimately rivaled the Facebook Messenger, making it a hard task for Facebook to recover these lost users. In fact, according to a 2013 study on why users quit Facebook, 48% identified privacy concerns as the key reason why they exited Facebook while about 13% disliked aspects of their Facebook ‘friends.’ 14% left due to general dissatisfaction with about 6% concerned about their addiction to Facebook. Legal suits as a result of privacy issues, loss of lives as a result of the usage of Facebook among other challenges are also concerns that the Zuckerberg-led company deals with from time to time.
To address these issues, the company has instituted strict privacy procedures, allowing users to secure their accounts from unauthorized access, views, and information sharing. It’s reported that violation of this policy has led to the suspension and complete deletion of accounts of the culprits. Violation of the minimum age policy is now a serious issue, with a 2011 study on the Monday Journal reporting that Facebook deletes approximately 20,000 underage users as a result of the violation of the policy, which is in compliance with the US child protection laws. Zuckerberg, at the helm of the company, has involved in the provision of strategic leadership in trying to ensure that the company remains relevant in the face of changing user needs and competition from other social networking sites.
Comparison with competitors
While the above discussion depicts Zuckerberg as a leader with mixed styles, combining transformational, autocratic and a bit of democracy in leadership, Google leadership is purely transformational, with mostly positive feedback from employees, clients, and even critics. Led by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google’s management style has evolved from a culture of people empowerment and independence of thought.
Although the leadership structure is not different from that of other organizations, Google has chief culture position as well as that of Internet Evangelist, with employees enjoying the opportunity to come up with unique ideas on how to improve the Google business. The employee time allocation follows the documented time allocation rule of 70/20/10, which gives employees at least 10% of their time for the generation of new ideas that could improve or generate new products, with rewards for any new ideas that are generated.
The Google management style is also anchored on the creation of a unique and enabling work environment for their employees, such as access to gyms, laundry, snacks, transport, no dress codes, free massages, etc. The compensation package at Google, while it’s not one of the highest at Silicon Valley, encompasses attractive benefits such as 18 weeks paid maternity leave, six weeks for new fathers, payment of half salary for the deceased’s employee salary for ten years among others. This attractive package, coupled with the enabling environment underscores Larry Page’s commitment to ensuring that employees attain their highest level of productivity, are motivated and committed to their work, which is evident from Google’s leadership as the most used search engine in the world.
Conclusion and personal reflection
The discussion above highlights the leadership styles of iconic leaders in the technology world. It shows how their personal drive for results and their desire to influence others to attain their full potential and contribute towards the success of their organizations have been instrumental in the success of their organizations at the global level.
At a personal level, I find both Larry page and Mark Zuckerberg to be significantly different in their approach to leadership, yet strikingly similar in their desire for results in their organizations by influencing the positive energy and potential of their subordinates. By leading their organizations to the top of the world in their various categories, I find their positive energy, leadership, concern for others and commitment to their organizations as traits that are admirable, and that can be adopted if one is to succeed as a business leader in the 21st century, and especially in the dynamic technology world.
References
Carlson (2012-1). Confessions of a Facebook employee: What It’s really like Working for Zuckerberg. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/confessions-of-a-facebook-employee-what-its-really-like-working-for-zuckerberg-2012-1
Charlie Rose (2014) Mark Zuckerberg Leadership Style: Available at http://www.adviseamerica.com/mark-zuckerberg-leadership-style/
Bass, B. M. (1990). From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18(3), 19-31.
Nasdaq stock echange. Available at : http://www.nasdaq.com/
