Leader profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leader profile - Essay Example At the age of 16, he moved to Detroit to pursue his passion of building machineries (Ford & Crowther, 1922). After a lot of hurdled and failures, he was finally able to start up with Ford motors. Henry Ford’s vision was to bring about a car which was so cheap that everyone could afford to drive it and was also very easily and cost effectively repaired and fixed (Ford & Crowther, 1922). He translated his vision into his T car model which proved to be a great success. Today Ford Motors is a well-known brand with having stakes in other very famous brands as well, like Mazda and Aston Martin. Its headquarters are located in Michigan. Ford is ranked the second-largest automaker being US based and attains a fifth position globally for being the largest auto maker in Europe. Ford Motor Company has taken a lot of environmental initiatives in order to pursue their corporate social responsibility (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). They have manufactured and made compressed natural gas vehic les, ethanol (flexible fuel) vehicles as well as electric and hybrid electronic vehicles. The position which Ford Motor Company enjoys luxuriously is only because of the vision of one man, Mr. Henry Ford. As a leader, he gave importance to giving value to workers along with maintaining a high level of self belief in them (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). He always ensured to pay his workers high, which is why he was able to attract all the talent from all over the world towards is company (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). Henry Ford understood that the only way to enhance the true potential in us is to understand the importance of work. He observed that work is an indispensable part of us as human beings and our achievement as individuals will come only as a result of us using our true working potential (Sorenson & Williamson, 1957). This is the main reason why he never thought of requiring, as for him life was work and work was life. The leadership style of Henry Ford was that of a trans formational leader. It is said so because he was able to articulate his vision with the action plans of his subordinates. Not only this makes him a transformational leader, he was also always very proactive then reactive (Sward, 1948). He was undoubtedly a charismatic leader which is completely shown by his desire to make a car which was affordable for each and everyone (Sward, 1948). The basic four traits which form the basis of a transformational leadership style are to be able to influence credibility, to inspire subordinates towards motivation, to address people with intellectual stimulation and lastly to have individualized consideration. Henry Ford had perfectly and completely mastered these four traits (Sward, 1948). Ford was always very motivation towards his workers and believed that people when happy and satisfied can be much more productive than people who are not happy an =d satisfied. He used to pay double wages than that of the market along with other rewards, incentiv es and bonuses (Sward, 1948). He also reduced the working hours a day for his workers so that they remain mentally and physically fresh. All this added to make Fords dream into a reality and the