Lawrence Joseph Ellison: On Leadership Style Essay

As the article recounts, Lawrence Joseph Ellison, Larry to many, is an adopted child of a Russian emigrate when his unwed mother left him to them. He used to be a mediocre in his class. However, with his self-confidence and goals set in mind, he conquered all the discouragements he got from the people around him and proved them wrong when he started to work on a database project for the Central Intelligence Agency. As of the moment, Larry Ellison owns 23% of the $18 billion-worth Oracle Corporation which is a producer of database softwares being used in thousands of giant business companies all over the world. The success of the organization and of ensuring to bring about innovation is largely dependent on Larry’s notion on leadership. Leading is said to be a human activity and being such, one has to be familiarized with the styles, traits and characteristics of a leader to become an effective one. A leader is mainly focused on influencing people to follow the directions set by him such as goals, perspective and attitude towards work. He or she is also tied up with a set of â€Å"standard† proficiency in decision-making where the executive aspect of being a leader is taken into account, in problem-solving where the analytical aspect is being considered, in managing problems where one should be well-able to handle pressure and stress, in managing power and influence in which the proper control of a leader is being exercised and in building trust to be able to get a sound faith from his subordinates (Nacamara, 1997). As can be seen, Larry spends not much time in Oracle, rather, he is more inclined in yacht-racing. He does not even have his own office. He leaves the tasks to his senior partners. He has an aptitude for delegating tasks all over his team and this type leadership skill is of delegation type. This type of leadership based from Heathfield (1997) is situational such that the style is dependent on the task, the capacity and knowledge of the team or the individual, the time and the resources available and the results which are aspired for. For Larry, he empowers his employees by delegating them with tasks that allows them to contribute their best efforts and to further succeed. As the founder of his own company, he has an attitude of wanting total control over it. He still has a great confidence in his self and, with a trusted, bright-minded people as his staff that dutifully and faithfully follows him, succession planning is yet far from his mind. Larry, in his style, also has trimmed down his company of people he gets does not get along with. He fires people which he thinks wants to rise up in his company and claim to be the next heir or when his executives start to give him advices on how to run his business. Moreover, with his perceptive yet impulsive trait, he puts his capital to dying companies and older versions of programs and works into unifying them. For some people, Larry’s moves are too risky in this age when technology and software companies are fast-emerging. Though he is good at delegating in tasks in his company, he should already have by a clear plan on who’s going to be his successor. If he has a good faith in his employees that they have learned great competence from him, he should also be open to the idea that one day one of his executives will be an heir to his company. Leading his company forever is possible not physically since he also has to retire in his job. Yet, his leadership skill which may have been a legacy for his employees is what is going to be intangibly forever. Daly (2003) asserted that leadership skills can be studied and learned and for that, people are expected to constantly improve their ability to lead. Being such, he would be more confident that his company will be in good hands after he steps down from his throne and spend more time to his family and yachts. References: Barret, VM. , (2006, August 14). Irreplaceable? Retrived, February 22, 2008, from http://www. forbes. com/forbes/2006/0814/082. html Daly, NR. (2003, January 1). Characteristics that count: nine leadership traits that translate to on-target actions. Retrieved February 22, 2008, from Healthfield, S. M. (1997). Delegation as a Leadership Style. Retrieved, February 22, 2008, from http://humanresources. about. com/cs/manageperformance/a/delegation. htm. McNamara, C. , (1997). Overview of Leadership in Organizations. Retrieved, February, 22, 2008, from www. managementhelp. org. mht.