Understanding the Leadership Styles of CEOs

by / ⠀Entrepreneurship / April 5, 2022
leadersship styles, transformational

While CEO styles and talents might be challenging to create and comprehend, they are critical to the success of any company or organization.

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have strong leadership abilities to successfully manage their enterprises in achieving their strategic purpose and objectives. Every CEO is a leader in their unique management style. It depends on the climate and the sector if certain CEO leadership styles are more successful than others.

Great leaders don’t follow a predetermined formula but rather develop their leadership philosophy from the ground up.

Of course, some CEOs don’t lead. They massacre. Don’t be one of those. While CEO leadership styles and talents might be challenging to create and comprehend, they are critical to the success of a company or organization.

In this article, find out what the CEO position comprises and the many sorts of CEO leadership styles that professionals may use to help them succeed in their professions.

What does a Chief Executive Officer do?

As the firm’s highest-ranking executive, the CEO is responsible for making critical choices that significantly impact the company’s operations. This includes building a corporate culture, managing operations, and allocating resources.

The CEO may also function as the company’s public face, connecting with shareholders, board members, customers, workers, and media outlets. They deliver information, solicit input, and measure corporate development.

According to a Harvard Business Review research conducted over 13 years, CEOs are “always on.” They put in an average of 62.5 hours per week. Then, over 80 percent work weekends, and 70 percent work vacation days on top of that. CEOs may also spend a significant amount of time traveling to other corporate sites and partner meetings.

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Indeed, they devote a significant amount of time to regular meetings and review sessions. Then, they must prepare to react quickly to any unexpected business concerns that may arise. CEOs must possess crucial leadership abilities to be successful.

According to a Harvard Business Review study conducted over ten years, influential CEOs make judgments in a timely and decisive manner. High-performing CEOs make quick and decisive decisions even though they often have confusing or partial information at their disposal. According to Stephen Gorman, a terrible judgment was preferable to a lack of direction, the former CEO of Greyhound Lines. You can reverse most judgments, but you must learn to move at the appropriate pace.

Getting stakeholders involved.

High-performing CEOs include stakeholders like workers in developing strategies and the achievement of outcomes. Successful CEOs take the time to understand the requirements and values of their stakeholders then and adequately align all activities with those demands.

Making a stakeholder map of the essential individuals who need to be on board is essential. It’s what Madeline Bell, CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, does before making a significant decision, she says. She makes it plain to individuals that they are crucial to the process. That they will be a part of a successful outcome, says the author.

CEOs are adapting proactively.

High-performing CEOs are proactive in responding to shifting markets and changing consumer behavior.

It’s coping with scenarios that aren’t in the playbook, Dominic Barton, a global managing partner at McKinsey & Company, said. In your role as a CEO, you confront scenarios in which a playbook is just not an option. You’d best be prepared to change your ways.

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It is being able to rely on someone.

CEOs that provide exceptional results are very consistent and dependable. According to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, 94 percent of great CEO candidates regularly follow through on their pledges.

In addition, influential CEOs must adequately express their ideas, inspire people, establish trust, and garner respect from their employees. When leading their enterprises towards a sustainable future, they must have vital emotional intelligence and knowledge of ethics and values.

Successful leadership styles of CEOs require advanced skills.

Executives may use a variety of CEO leadership styles to manage their employees and propel their organizations forward successfully.

Professionals who get a Master of Science in Leadership (MSL) degree may improve their ability to apply the four major CEO leadership styles by acquiring the requisite skills.

Transformational leadership causes an organization to evolve.

It is all about encouraging and enabling workers to effect positive change across the firm when it comes to transformational leadership.

This leadership style emphasizes the importance of building a solid company culture. That is to say, empowering people to take the initiative by using their knowledge and creativity in their work.

Transformational leaders are creative and charismatic.

They guide by a defined set of principles, beliefs, and primary objectives that are in the organization’s best interests as a whole. These CEOs are excited about leading by example, encouraging open communication, and providing mentoring opportunities for their employees.

For example, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella led the company’s slow-moving, risk-averse corporate culture into one that releases dozens of new product features and upgrades each month. In contrast to the company’s founder, Bill Gates, who acted as an authoritarian visionary, Nadella encouraged teams to experiment with new ideas via collaborative learning. Nadella even organized a company-wide hackathon, during which workers could construct and discuss their passion projects with one another.

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This series of efforts resulted in Microsoft’s investment in cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI), which now account for 32 percent of the company’s income as of 2017, just three years after Nadella was made CEO.

The risk and expenditure involved with engaging in significant organizational change is a disadvantage of transformational leadership, which you must consider. Employees might also get glum due to the continual pressure to develop and cooperate to achieve the CEO’s goal. Do what you can to bring everyone along with your vision.

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