discussion

 

The purpose of this assignment is for students to identify and discuss different leadership theories exemplified in business leaders. Students will also describe power bases leaders use to resolve challenges and explain behaviors that leaders should demonstrate or avoid in order to be successful. Specifically, identify one business leader you either know personally or are able to gain access to for the purpose of conducting an interview who meets the following criteria:

• The leader may be a former or current manager, educational leader, civic/business leader (including for nonprofits), coaching staff, or religious leader.
• The leader must have served in a managerial capacity for at least 3 years within an organization or department with at least 10 employees.
• The leader may refer to their current job or a previous job as long as the experience meets the criteria noted above.
• Please note that your chosen leader must first be approved by your instructor if you have not already received approval prior to starting this topic. 

This interview can take place virtually over video conference (e.g., Zoom) or in person. For assistance on using Zoom and recording with Zoom, which you will need for Part III of this assignment, refer to the “Zoom” resources information, located in the Topic 6 Resources.

Part I: Preparing for and Conducting the Interview

In advance of the interview, be sure to read and understand the presentation guidelines below and be prepared to ask additional/follow-up questions to ensure that information adequate enough to address each point has been retrieved. For example, you would not necessarily want to ask a leader about the power base(s) they have utilized, as they may not know what you are talking about, but you will want to have enough information pertaining to how the leader handled their challenge to articulate which power base(s) you believe they used.

Additionally, refer the attached “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template prior to the interview to review the skills and characteristics associated with servant leadership and the entrepreneurial mindset. Use the first three worksheet tabs of this “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template to automatically calculate the scores your leaders receive for each concept. Note that during the interview, you will walk through these assessments with the interviewee and fill it out as you talk through the questions together. Do not give the template to the interviewee and expect them to fill it out independently. 

Evidence of the Interview

and Conducting the Interview

As you conduct the interview, take thorough notes. Your supporting documentation should reflect a brief response of a minimum of two to three sentences for each question covered. You will see that the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template contains a section for you to include your notes. 

As an alternative option, you may record the interview instead of taking physical notes so that you may refer back to it as you complete the remaining parts of the assignment. Students must receive permission from the interviewee to record the interview. The recording (audio or video) can be submitted in lieu of written notes via a sharable link. 

In addition to your own insights, note that throughout the PowerPoint slides and the speaker notes, you will need to provide cited documentation to justify any factual statements made and to support your positions. Review “Assignment Submission Guidelines,” located in the Class Resources. Remember that PDFs are not an acceptable format.  

Address all of the following questions with your interviewee:

Background Information:

Address the basics with your interviewee:

• Who are you?
• Where do you work? How long have you been there in your role?

Interview Topics: 

Reflect upon either your current job or a previous one:

1. Which industry is/was representative of the organization, what is/was your role, and how long have you been or were you in that position?
2. Consider your greatest career achievement in that role. Provide details, including the time period and the persons, products, and services involved. What management principles, strategies, or processes did you employ that you believe led to this effective organizational outcome? Why do you consider this achievement to have been so impactful? Refer to “1.
3. Part A – Servant Leadership

” of the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template and rate each characteristic that your interviewee used in realizing their greatest achievement. Please provide an example.

4. Consider one significant challenge, preferably one with an ethical dilemma, you previously faced in that role. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome? Provide details including the time period, persons, products, services, competition, market conditions, etc. that may have been involved. Refer to “2.
5. Part B – Servant Leadership

” of the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template and rate each characteristic that your interviewee used in overcoming their significant challenge. Please provide an example.

6. What was the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization, and how were they accomplished? How essential is the entrepreneurial mindset in achieving the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization? Refer to “3.
7. Part C – Entrepreneurial Mindset

” of the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template and rate each trait that your interviewee used in demonstrating an entrepreneurial mindset. Please provide an example.

8. Apart from servant leadership and the entrepreneurial mindset, please identify two significant lessons/attributes that are essential for success. Describe anything you wish you would have specifically avoided that may have derailed or delayed your success?

Deliverables:

The following deliverables will need to be included in your final submission for this part of the assignment within the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template for these four tabs. 

Part A – Servant Leadership
Part B – Servant Leadership
Part C – Entrepreneurial Mindset
Evidence of the Interview

Part II: Leadership Comparison

In preparation for Part III, you will conduct research to compare the leadership style used by your selected leader (interviewed in Part I) with the style of a well-known business leader from the attached “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template in the “6. Comparison Leaders List” tab. Your selected leader should be in the same industry (e.g., technology, finance, hospitality, etc.) as the leader chosen for comparison. Investigate the strengths and weaknesses of both leadership styles. Your analysis will be presented in the “

Leadership Style Comparison

” and “

Leadership Lessons

” sections of the

Part III: Presentation

.

If you would like to compare your leader to a leader not provided on the “6. Comparison Leaders List” tab, the selection must first be approved by your instructor.

Part III: Presentation

Create a PowerPoint presentation of 10-12 slides (including a title slide and references slide) and then record a video presentation using Zoom, sharing your screen with the slides showing and also with at least your face showing as you present. Note that points will be deducted for audio-only submissions. Make sure to keep the following details in mind for your submission:

• Given that you are required to have 10-12 slides, the time for the video should be about 10-12 minutes, so there will be a point deduction for going above or below that range.
• As the digital classroom does not support large file sizes, you will need first save your Zoom recording and create a digital link. Refer to “Zoom,” located in the Topic 6 Resources for specific guidance on this process. When you receive the link, embed it into the title slide of your presentation, which you will upload to the digital classroom.
• All content slides must include developed speaker notes in which you fully explain your ideas presented on the slides.

The first seven sections outlined below are based upon your interview above in Part I in addition to your corresponding research. Address the following in your presentation under the appropriate headings:

Business Leader Description

• Identify the leader and justify the selection of that particular leader.
• Discuss the organizations with which the leader is affiliated and the industry in which that the leader is most recognized.
• Discuss how long the leader has been in a leadership position.

Greatest Career Achievement of Leader

• Describe the leader’s greatest career achievement(s).
• Provide justification on why this achievement was so impactful. Include which management principles, strategies, or processes they employed that led to this effective organizational outcome and improved stakeholder satisfaction.
• Using the attached “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template, complete the scoring in the “1. Part A – Servant Leadership” worksheet based on your conversation with your leader. Use the Likert scale provided to evaluate the extent to which the respondent (i.e., the interviewed leader) applied servant leadership characteristics when the respondent experienced the greatest success. Review the leader’s score earned for each characteristic in this area and provide an explanation of how these elements relate to the leader’s greatest career achievement.

Handling a Challenge

• Identify the significant career challenge the leader faced.
• Explain how the leader handled the challenge.
• Based on your perspective, differentiate whether the response aligns more with a managerial role or a leadership role.
• Using the attached “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template, complete the scoring in the “2. Part B – Servant Leadership” worksheet based on your conversation with your leader. Use the Likert scale provided to evaluate the extent to which the respondent (i.e., the interviewed leader) applied servant leadership characteristics when the respondent experienced the most significant challenge. Review the leader’s score earned for each characteristic in this area and provide an explanation of how it relates to the handling of the challenge.

Power Bases and Impact of Behavior

• Based upon the responses received in Item 3 of Part I (above), describe which power base(s) you feel the leader utilized in handling or resolving the challenge and justify your choice.
• Discuss the impact of the leader’s behavior on the situation based on the power base demonstrated.

Mission, Vision, Strategy, and Entrepreneurial Mindset

• Using the attached “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template, complete the scoring in the “3. Part C – Entrepreneurial Mindset” worksheet based on your conversation with your interviewee. Use the Likert scale provided, rate the extent to which the interviewee (i.e., the interviewed leader) possesses an entrepreneurial mindset. 
• Explain the association between possessing an entrepreneurial mindset with achieving the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy. 

Application of Leadership Theory

• Discuss which leadership theory, model, style, or behavior best describes the chosen leader’s approach to leading people.

Leadership Style Comparison

• Compare the leadership style used by your selected leader in Part II with the style of the selected, well-known business leader in the same industry.
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both leadership styles.

The next two sections below are based upon your research on your selected leader in Part II as well as the lessons learned in the interview in Part I.

Leadership Lessons

• Identify and explain three characteristics that a leader should demonstrate or avoid in order to be successful.
• Provide justification for the characteristics selected.

Critical Reflection of the Interview and Research Processes

• Why did you choose to interview the leader in Part I, and why did you choose the selected leader in Part II?
• What additional or follow-up questions did you ask in order to arrive at the responses you provided within your presentation? For example, how did you prompt responses from your interviewee to answer questions about less common concepts, such as “Generalized Self Efficacy,” “Internal Locus of Control,” or “Healing”?
• Provide a short reflection of what you learned from this interview and research process, including any challenges you faced and how you overcame them. 

General Requirements

You are required to submit the following deliverables:

• From Part I: The completed “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template for “1. Part A – Servant Leadership,” “2. Part B – Servant Leadership,” and “3. Part C – Entrepreneurial Mindset” tabs. 
• From Part I: In the “4. Evidence of Interview” tab within the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template, include your interview documentation (i.e., paste in your notes or a picture of the manual notes you took) or a link to the recorded interview file.
• From Part III: PowerPoint presentation with detailed speaker notes within the designated notes sections. These robust, detailed speaker notes are required to support and explain the bullet points in each slide. Include scholarly support to validate your position and be sure to cite any charts or graphs included in your presentation and speaker notes.
• From Part III: The link to your recorded presentation should be on the title slide of your presentation and in the “5. Recorded Presentation Link” tab of the “Contemporary Business Leader Materials” template. The recorded presentation needs to include video and audio recording for each member of the team while also advancing through the slide presentation. 

You are required to use at least two external scholarly sources in addition to the textbook to provide evidence in support of the leadership style displayed by the selected leader. The rationale should be justified; this should not be completed based on an opinion. These sources must be cited in-text (i.e., parenthetically within the presentation), in addition to providing a references list at the end of the presentation.

Refer to the resource, “Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations,” located in the Student Success Center, for additional guidance on completing this assignment in the appropriate style.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

BS Accounting; BS Business Administration; BS Entrepreneurial Studies; BS Finance and Economics; BS Finance; BS Finance and Economics; BS Supply Chain and Logistics Management: (3.6). BS Business Analytics; BS Business Management; BS Marketing and Advertising; BS Sports Management: (3.4). BS Business Secondary Education: (6.3). BS Business Information Systems: (3.3). BS Homeland Security and Emergency Management: (2.1). BS Applied Management: (1.5)

Examine management principles, strategies, and processes that lead to effective organizational outcomes.

Attachments

MGT-420-RS-T6-ContemporaryBusinessLeaderMaterials.xlsx

Submit Assignment
 

1. PartA-ServantLeadership

Directions: Review each part provided below and incorporate these questions accordingly into your interview. The evidence you gather from the interview will be analyzed in the Contemporary Business Leader presentation.
Make sure you review the details of what each characteristic means from your assigned readings in case your interviewee needs additional guidance. As a reminder, you will fill this out for your interviewee based on your interview with your selected leader.
Part A: Servant Leadership
Corresponds to Interview Question 2 in “Part I: Preparing for and Conducting the Interview” under “Interview Topics.”
On a scale of 1–5, to what extent did you utilize each of these characteristics toward your greatest achievement? A maximum of 50 points can be earned.
Note: For the Excel spreadsheet calculations to work properly, place the number value in the appropriate cell. So if the leader scores themselves as a “4” for “Listening,” you would enter a “4” in that corresponding cell under “4: Used Often.” Only ONE value should be entered per row.

Characteristics
1: Never Used
2: Rarely Used
3: Used Occasionally or Sometimes
4: Used Often
5: Used Always

Listening

Empathy

Healing

Awareness

Persuasion

Conceptualization

Foresight

Stewardship

Commitment to Growth of People

Interest in Building Community

Total Score:
0

• High range: A score between 38 and 50 means the leader strongly exhibited servant leadership characteristics.
• Moderate range: A score between 25 and 37 means the leader tended to exhibit this characteristic in an average way.
• Low range: A score between 13 and 24 means the leader was below the average or expected degree.
• Extremely low range: A score between 0 and 12 means the leader was not inclined to exhibit servant leadership characteristics at all.
The scores received on the Servant Leadership Questionnaire indicate the degree to which the interviewee exhibited the characteristics of a servant leader. You may also address the characteristics that the leader used extensively and those that were hardly used at the time of the leader’s greatest achievement.

2. PartB-ServantLeadership

Directions: Review each part provided below and incorporate these questions accordingly into your interview. The evidence you gather from the interview will be analyzed in the Contemporary Business Leader presentation.
Make sure you review the details of what each characteristic means from your assigned readings in case your interviewee needs additional guidance. As a reminder, you will fill this out for your interviewee based on your interview with your selected leader.
Part B: Servant Leadership
Corresponds to Interview Question 3 in “Part I: Preparing for and Conducting the Interview” under “Interview Topics.”
On a scale of 1–5, to what extent did you utilize each of these characteristics in overcoming your significant challenge? A maximum of 50 points can be earned.
Note: For the Excel spreadsheet calculations to work properly, place the number value in the appropriate cell. So if the leader scores themselves as a “4” for “Listening,” you would enter a “4” in that corresponding cell under “4: Used Often.” Only ONE value should be entered per row.

Characteristics
1: Never Used
2: Rarely Used
3: Used Occasionally or Sometimes
4: Used Often
5: Used Always

Listening

Empathy

Healing

Awareness

Persuasion

Conceptualization

Foresight

Stewardship

Commitment to Growth of People

Interest in Building Community

Total Score:
0

• High range: A score between 38 and 50 means the leader strongly exhibited servant leadership characteristics.
• Moderate range: A score between 25 and 37 means the leader tended to exhibit this characteristic in an average way.
• Low range: A score between 13 and 24 means the leader was below the average or expected degree.
• Extremely low range: A score between 0 and 12 means the leader was not inclined to exhibit servant leadership characteristics at all.
The scores received on the Servant Leadership Questionnaire indicate the degree to which the interviewee exhibited the characteristics of a servant leader. You may also address the characteristics that the leader used extensively and those that were hardly used at the time of the leader’s greatest challenge.

3. PartC-EntrepreneurialMindset

Part C: Entrepreneurial Mindset
Corresponds to Interview Question 4 in “Part I: Preparing for and Conducting the Interview” under “Interview Topics.”
On a scale of 1–5, to what extent did you utilize each of these skills with respect to an entrepreneurial mindset?
Make sure you review the details of what each trait means from your assigned readings in case your interviewee needs additional guidance. As a reminder, you will fill this out for your interviewee based on your interview with your selected leader.
Note: For the Excel spreadsheet calculations to work properly, place the number value in the appropriate cell. So if the leader scores themselves as a “3” for “Need for Autonomy,” you would enter a “3” in that corresponding cell for “Used Occasionally or Sometimes.” Only ONE value should be entered per row. A maximum of 70 points can be earned.

Traits
1: Never Used
2: Rarely Used
3: Used Occasionally or Sometimes
4: Used Often
5: Used Always

Need to Achieve

Openness to Experience

Innovative/creative Ability

Risk Propensity

Proactivity and Work Ethic

Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

Internal Locus of Control

Total Score:
0

• High range: A score between 53 and 70 means the leader strongly exhibited servant leadership behavior.
• Moderate range: A score between 35 and 52 means the leader tended to exhibit this behavior in an average way.
• Low range: A score between 18 and 34 means the leader was below the average or expected degree.
• Extremely low range: A score between 0 and 17 means the leader was not inclined to exhibit servant leadership behavior at all.
The scores received on the Entrepreneurial Mindset Questionnaire indicate the degree to which the interviewee perceives that an entrepreneurial mindset is essential to achieving the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization. You may also address the traits that the leader used extensively and those that were hardly used at the time of the leader’s greatest achievement.

4. Evidence-of-Interview

Evidence of Interview: Notes or Recording

Include your notes here from your interview. Each question should have two to three sentences of content. Your options are:

1. Enter your notes by simply copying/pasting from your digital notes information.

2. OR include photo image(s) of all notes taken.

3. OR include a link to the recorded video or audio interview conducted with your leader. Note that you MUST obtain consent from your leader before recording them.

5. RecordedPresentationLink

Link to your video presentation recording:

Note that you must create a sharable link to your video recording.
With Zoom basic, you can record up to 40 minutes to your desktop, but you will then need to upload the *.mp4 file to another cloud, like YouTube, Google Drive, or OneDrive (in either case, be sure to make the link shareable!). Doing the same with a PC or Mac screen recording is also an option.
As a reminder, for the interview itself, you do not necessarily have to have a video recording, so voice memos or thorough handwritten or typed notes are also options. But the presentation must be a video recording showing both your slides and your faces.
For the presentation, alternatives to Zoom can include Teams or recording directly within PowerPoint (if using this option, make sure it is one seamless recording, NOT short video bubbles on each slide). Please do not use Loom, unless you have a paid version already, as multiple shorter videos is also not an acceptable option.

Refer to the “Zoom” resource available on the Student Success Center, located in the Topic 6 Resources.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BWdH_KOM3BUFvzjBDz-B7hwvMQZsx10Y/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104659118666971440248&rtpof=true&sd=true

6. ComparisonLeadersList

Note that some of the leaders listed below may not be serving any longer in the stated capacity but are still an option for you to select as a comparison leader.

Academia

Barbara Wilson (University of Iowa, President)

Brian Mueller (Grand Canyon University, President)

Makola Abdullah (Virginia State University, President)

Santa Ono (University of Michigan President)

Sian Beilock (Dartmouth College, President)

Athletics

Cathy Engelbert (WNBA, Commissioner)

Gary Bettman (National Hockey League, Commissioner)

Joe Espada (Houston Astros, Manager)

Valerie Daniels-Carter (Green Bay Packers, Board of Directors Member; Milwaukee Bucks, Minority Owner)

Virginia Halas McCaskey (Chicago Bears, Principal Owner)

Corporate

Anne Mulcahy (Xerox, Chair/CEO)

Colleen Barrett (Southwest Airlines, President)

Corie Barry (Best Buy, CEO)

George Paz (Express Scripts, Chair/CEO)

Howard Schultz (Starbucks, CEO)

Indira Nooyi (Pepsi, CEO)

J. Paul Raines (GameStop, CEO)

Jack Welch (General Electric, CEO)

Jessi Baker (Provenance.org, CEO)

Kenneth Frazier (Merck, CEO)

KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz (Sustainable Brands, CEO)

Larry Page (Google, CEO)

Marissa Mayer (Yahoo, CEO)

Marvin Ellison (Lowe’s, CEO)

Mary Barra (General Motors, CEO)

Michell Gass (Levi Strauss & Co., President)

Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Tata Group, Chairperson)

Phebe Novakovic (General Dynamics, CEO)

Richard Branson (Virgin Group, founder)

Satya Nadella (Microsoft, CEO)

Susan Wojcicki (YouTube, CEO)

Ursula Burns (Xerox, CEO)

Military

David Petraeus (US Army General, General; CIA, Director)

Jacqueline Van Ovost (US Air Force, General)

James Mattis (US Secretary of Defense, )

Laura Richardson (US Army, Four-star General)

Lisa Franchetti (United States Navy, 33rd Chief of Naval Operations)

Lloyd Austin (Secretary of Defense; US Army, Four-star General)

Nadja West (Lt. General US Army)

Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell (Lt. Col. Air Force)

Non-Profit / NGO

Gail Perry ( Fired Up Fundraising, President)

Jonathan Reckford (Habitat for Humanity, CEO)

Kishshana Palmer (nonprofit consultant — focusing on entrepreneurs and altruism)

Marc Pitman (” The Fundraising Coach” — focus on leadership and philanthropy)

Mark Viso (Food for the Hungry, President/CEO)

Myal Greene (World Relief, President/CEO)

Public Safety

Alan Brunacini (Phoenix Fire Department, Chief)

Carmen Best (Seattle Police Chief)

Kara Kalkbrenner (Phoenix Fire Department Chief)

Renee Hall (Dallas Police, Chief)

William Scott (San Francisco Police Chief)

Religious Leaders

Donna Barrett (Assemblies of God, General Secretary)

Joshua Davidson (Temple Emanu-El, Senior Rabbi)

Sheikh Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz Ahmad Sulaiman (Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, Imam))

Vashti Murphy McKenzie (National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, President/General Secretary; African Methodist Episcopal Church, retired bishop)

Walter Kim (National Association of Evangelicals, President)