Personal Leadership Style Analysis

There are many aspects to consider when trying to determine the type of leadership style that will work best to influence the effectiveness of leadership skills. A person’s leadership style has an important bearing on how successfully an organization reaches its goals and objectives. Different styles are needed for different situations and each leader needs to know when to exhibit a particular approach. Leaders must learn to adjust their leadership style to the situation as well as to the people being led. Additionally, leadership strategies define a leader's personal leadership style.
In an autocratic leadership style, also referred to as authoritative leaders, the person in charge has complete authority and control over decision-making.
The newspaper industry is regarded as a highly demanding industry, with lots of pressure associated with quick decision-making. Raines’s leadership style raised efficiency and “contributed to bottom line growth in the highly demanding newspaper industry that requires some form of autocratic control to meet tight deadlines on a regular basis.” (brighthubpm) He was referred to as a “hard-charging” executive and also known for the policy of “ flooding the zone”, using all the New York Time’s resources to cover what he deemed were important stories. The company won a record of seven Pulitzers Prize in one year. However, his autocratic style led to changes of highhandedness and callousness. His drive to get things done made him “contemptuous, dismissive, and sarcastic, even to senior journalists.” He centralized decision-making, and killed stories at will. He disregarded all efforts and contributions before his arrival, assumed everyone as “lazy,” and “lethargic,” and divided the journalists into “stars,” and “also-rans.” All [this] created distress and dissension among the staff, and morale fell, leading to a decline in both quality and quantity of information.” (brighthubpm) Although Howell Raines was a very efficient autocratic leader, his leadership style caused distress amongst the journalists and quality declined. So after almost two years on the job,
Before he took over though, the Nissan brand was losing its value and for the company to survive, it was evident that a turnover had to happen. After a few years of restructuring, he transformed the company and Nissan showed remarkable growth and profitability. Following his success, Carlos earned the nickname “Mr. Fix It.” He contributes his success on his team’s part, stating that he relies a great deal on his team and that they “[work] to review their performance by being critical [of] their achievement which makes them more able to solve their own problems.” (somewhere) He also encourages innovation within his employees and encourages them to take initiative by including them in the decision making process. Carlos firmly believes that “Employees are your most valuable assets. They are the heart and guts of a company. (times) In addition, he states “You have to listen to the people who have a negative opinion as well as those who have positive opinion. Just to make sure that you are blending all these opinions in your mind before a decision is made.”