Assignment A

Introduction:

There are many qualities that Darwin Smith possessed that proclaimed him as a leader and these qualities included clarity of purpose, decisiveness, confidence and courage, creativity and innovation, commitment and also his passion.

1. As soon as he became a leader, Smith realized where the company lacked and what needs to be improved. By taking the CEO position, his vision of the corporate goals was redefined and the operations of the various leaders and workers were focused towards attaining these goals.

Smith had decisiveness and purpose that, once he made up his mind, he used all his energy and focus to attain that purpose for the company. For example, even when he was ridiculed about the idea of huggies (diapers), he did not worry until he made it into a success. Such was the commitment of Darwin Smith

Smith had the courage and confidence in taking the necessary risks for the company and as he believed in himself, he removed the workers who were not up to the mark (his specifications) nor did he hesitate to award and promote those workers who performed well.

The company under the leadership of Smith, had invested a lot in research and development of consumer products and he had a great vision which made the company from being a good one to a great one. This way the creativity and innovation of the company was taken to the next level which made it to become a Fortune 500 company.

2. Leaders are born, such as Darwin Smith; but he did not realize his leadership qualities until he was made into an CEO of the company. But soon as he became the CEO, his roles and responsibilities as a leader became clear to him and he transformed the company into a great one with his skills and abilities. Until he was given the position, he did not realize his leadership skill; but as soon as he became the CEO, everything became childâ€™s play to him. He integrated the team and coordinated their efforts which became the organizational culture that was focused towards bringing about success to the company year after year since 1975.

3. Darwin Smith used transformational leadership in order to transform the organization to the next level through intellectual stimulation of various leaders in the organizations. He revised the goals of the organization and focused them towards what would make it into success. For example, he closed down the mills and made new lines of products like that of Huggies which was facing much opposition and took it to the rank of number 1 brand in the country. His ability to make difficult decision and also to take the right risks makes his style of leadership transformational. Transformational leaders generally make difficult decisions which has clear focus on values, vision and goals for the organization(Mccleskey, 2014).

4. There are various types of skills and characteristics that a transformational leader such as Darwin Smith would require.

â€¢ Keeping EGO in check. Even though Smith was in a position of power, he was a transformational leader and had his ego under control that did not interfere the best interest of the team. He was able to keep the organizationâ€™s wellbeing before his own gains and this elicited best performance among the team members.

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