LEE IACOCCA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

LEE IACOCCA - Essay Example The biography of Lee Iacocca happens to be the story of an ordinary person who took the initiative, as and when the life presented opportunities to him and made something out of himself. One thing that set apart Lee Iacocca’s leadership style from others was that he happened to have a strong conviction in his ideas and beliefs. Part of the issues that Iacocca faced at the Ford Car Company was that he seldom hesitated from sitting down and defending the ideas and views that seemed right and effective to him. No wonder Lee Iacocca’s personality carried an immense sense of charisma that made others trust him, believe in him and follow him. Hus style of leadership was marked by a sense of courage that not only motivated others to do their best, but also assured his followers that if anything went wrong, he will be there to help and defend them as Iacocca says, â€Å"Leadership means setting an example (Iacocca & Novak 241)†. The communication style of Iacocca was mar ked by astuteness in being able to and willing to talk about facts, even when they sounded unpalatable and unsavory. I was his ability to bear with hard facts that helped him turnover Chrysler. In the context of Kouzes-Posner model of leadership one thing that Iacocca learned when he was fired from Ford was the fact that a leader ought to set the principles as per which people need to be treated and made to achieve the goals. Iacocca possessed remarkable people skills. Iacocca not only firmly believed in his vision, but also had the ability to make others trust his vision and do their best to further and facilitate that vision. One thing that Iacocca did after joining Chrysler was to challenge the status quo and to question the way things were done earlier, so as to do away with the old flab and make the company focus on the things that added to its success. Both at Ford and at Chrysler, Iacocca pursued a collaborative approach with his team members and acted as a leader who believe d in empowering others. It was Iacocca’s ability to keep alive the hope and belief at Chrysler that enabled him and the people working with him to make Chrysler a success. The personality of Iacocca possessed a trait that happened to be both his strength and a weakness. One thing that made Lee Iacocca peculiar was that he tended to be quiet emotive about his professional life. He associated with his work with a marked sense of emotional passion and took both the success and the failures coming his way with an emotive sense of conviction. For instance when Iacocca was fired from Ford, instead of merely taking it as one other aspect of his job, Iacocca rather took this instance quiet personally and meditated on the impact that firing had on his personal and family life. However, one could certainly say that this emotive sense of temperament could have turned out to be a tragic flaw in any other person, but Lee Iacocca instead of allowing his emotions to benumb and stymie him, r ather used them to his advantage and moved on to utilize his innate talent to make Chrysler a burgeoning success. On thing that could be strongly attributed to Lee Iacocca’