Leadership

The papers should include a short summary of core models and theoretical ideas from the class as well as an application of the models to yourself and to one or two of the guest speakers. How did the speaker help you to understand your own leadership signature and how you want to develop as a leader?  What did you learn from this leader?  How did the leader support, amplify, or contradict the model you are discussing?  Please include some theoretical material that is relevant to your analysis as well as the implications of your analysis for your future leadership actions and development.

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The speaker that inspired me the most was Mr. Russ Fradin.

  SunGard’s CEO and a member of its board of directors, since 2011.

According to me his personal leadership style was – sense making which was fairly strong ( entire 4 cap model of leadership )  This to me is very relevant leadership style in the kind of assignment / work that I want to undertake in future after Sloan Fellow’s program. I have spent large part of my career in sales and have often come across the situation, which are similar to what Mr. Russ Fradin came across. I loved the fact that he was brutally honest with the client / customers about what his organization can deliver and what his organization cannot deliver. To me as a leader it is very important. honest and being upfront about it.

As a leader he decided that he did not want to undertake new assignment until the time he clear the situation that he was in. I am going to quote from the Deborah Ancona – write up that is provided to us for this course – Sense making enables leaders to have a better grasp of what is going on in the environment, thus facilitating other leadership activities such as visioning, relating and inventing.

Most of the project that’s he handled were turnaround project, which to me is an excellent example of sense making. This exactly corresponds to what he have studied – He created maps that were not essentially the exact things he wanted to do in beginning but by beginning by creating a road MAP. Maps can provide hope, confidence and the means to move from anxiety to action. By mapping an unfamiliar situation, some of the fears of the unknown can be abated.

Another things that I like about him is that he strikes a balance between work life projects. He made the right career choice. He told us during the class discussion that during consulting assignment, he choose to work on assignment that were based in the city that he was based in. Considering that he had a very successful career at Mckinsey, I am confident that he did not suffer any career setback in long run while at the same time he was able to maintain the balance. In the end it is all about making the right career choices. What I also liked about was his quality that he was upfront to his customers about what his organization could deliver and what the organization cannot.