Managers have subordinates—leaders have followers.

Murray Johannsen

Leadership, throughout history has been defined in many different ways. The quote above makes sense to me when trying to decipher a leadership definition in my own mind. Leadership is more about acting with such qualities which inspire following rather than demanding it. In attempting to capture this following, there are many valid approaches and techniques which all fall as part of the leadership arena. Certain leadership characteristics, such as locus of control, ethics, passion, creativity, determination, vision, task/relationship orientation lead to leadership behaviours which display these characteristics. These in turn make part of the vast array of leadership styles apparent in society today. Each leadership style serving it’s purpose in each situation. In this paper I will be concentrating on three of these characteristics, namely locus of control, passion and vision. I will then be talking through a case study, Jack Welch, and how Jack has displayed these, as well as many other, leadership qualities throughout his career as the head of General Electric.

Locus of control can be defined as “the way in which individuals attributes responsibility for events that occur in their lives to factors within themselves” (Dubrin, 2002 p 312) an internal locus of control refers to the situation where a person believes everything that occurs in their lives is part of their own doing and that they have the power to accomplish any task which they set their minds to. On the other hand, a person who possesses an external locus of control believe what happens within their lives is beyond their control. When you research the work of many leaders, they tend to display an internal locus of control. From Richard Branson to Muhammad Yunus to Martin Luther King to name a few, these leaders believed from the start of their objective that it was within their power to achieve the mammoth tasks that they each set out to achieve. An example of this is Dr. Muhammad Yunus. He is best known for the creation of micro – credit in trying to abolish poverty. The factthat Dr. Yunus has actually taking on this incredible task of abolishing poverty displays an immense internal locus of control. Many of us wish for a poverty free world but we think that it is beyond our control to do this. Dr. Yunus believes he has the formula for this and continues to work relentlessly towards this objective.

With this locus of control comes passion and determination to achieve the initial vision. One aspect of possessing a vision is that you are the very first to do what ever it is you are setting out to achieve. You must posses this passion for your course in order to have the determination to follow it all through. An example of this is Jack Welch (described below). One of his many visions was to totally transform corporate America from the ‘Military style’ management structure which it had possessed for many years. He believed this kind of management only slowed down progress and was very counter – productive. He did this through incredible passion for his work. Jack can be quoted as saying;

“Create a vision and get people so passionate about this vision they can’t wait to execute your plan. To me, there is nothing more important to an organisation than expressing ideas and creating a vision.” Pg 1 Welch way

Throughout his career Jack believed in instilling a vision to workers of GE and through his own passion got people very passionate about their work.

Case Study: Jack Welch

When talking about leadership in general, a person who I believe embodies these characteristics, as  well as many other, is Jack Welch. Arguably one of the great leaders of the last century.

In 1981, Jack Welch became the eight and youngest CEO of General Electrics. From the go get, Jack’s vision was to make GE the “most competitive enterprise” pg viii, the Welch Way). When Jack took over at GE, the game in corporate America was changing. The economy was weak and there was increasing international competition in every corner. The model of corporate America had been stagnant for decades and Bureaucracy was king.

Within 10 years at the thrown, Welch transformed GE 110%. He eliminated layer of management, sold off hundreds of businesses and really transformed the Bureaucratic ways of GE. He transformed GE into the most competitive and profitable enterprise in the world, and hence achieving his vision. Following, are 14 ways Jack believes helped him achieve the mammoth task he achieved in such a short space of time.

·        Lead – create a vision and get people so passionate about this vision they can wait to execute your plan. “to me, there is nothing more important to an organisation than expressing ideas and creating a vision” Pg 1 Welch way

·        Become Less Formal – Jack tried to get rid of formality as he believed it simply got in the way of business. He refused to be known as Mr. Welch, he refused to wear a tie and always held informal meetings. He supported informality wherever possible.

·        Blow Up Bureaucracy – To Jack, Bureaucracy means slow decision making, time wastage, and all the other things that kills a company’s competitive spirit.

·        Face Reality – jack always firmly considered himself a realist, to make decisions based on reality. This was one of the more important fundamentals inherent in Jack.

·        Simplify – Jack can be quoted as saying that, “his goal was to de-complicate everything we do and make at GE”

·        See Change as an opportunity – Welch knew that change is part of business. How Jack made everyone feel about change and the fact that he made everyone comfortable with change was one vital ingredient to the success of GE.

·        Lead by energizing others – The system of management in corporate America in the 80’s had evolved from the military and had not changed for years. The system was called ‘command and control.’ Jack soon changed this to implement his vision of a bureaucracy free enterprise. As he has stated numerous times, the quality of his leadership came from the quality of his vision.

·        Defy Tradition – This meant going against tradition and a company so rich in tradition – such as GE. Jack believed that going against tradition, and hence doing things differently to before, made GE much more competitive in the world of business.

·        Make Intellect rule – In most companies, it is management who rule. Jack did not believe in this way of doing business as he felt the people with the knowledge and intellect when it comes to a problem should be putting these ideas forward in order to advance the company.

·        Ponce every Day – He believed that without this, GE would have lost many business opportunities. He always made the most out of everyday with GE.

·        Put Values First – Jack always believed on recognising human effort instead of just been engulfed with analysing profit figures when it came to GE operation

·        Instil Confidence – From the start Jack re-engineered the face of GE. He cut jobs, sold businesses and mad major changes. He had a quality about him of instilling confidence to the workers of GE to ensure they still were happy with their jobs and not terrified of all the changes around them.

·        Communication is the Key – jack greatly believed in open communication. He believed that if everyone is across business occurrences this brings with it a grater understanding as to why and greater confidence and backing in business decisions.

To me a leader like Jack Welch embodies what it is to be a leader. Through reading the text written about Jack Welch, it is almost as he embodied all facets of leadership. From ethics to creativity to visionary perspective. His leadership style seems to be more of an entrepreneurial leadership style.  

Leadership is different to management. To truly be a leader, I believe you must have the ability to get people so passionate about the task at hand they will follow you relentlessly. To achieve this, one must firstly poses a vision, and then have the passion and determination to follow through with this vision through an immense internal locus of control.

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