Running Head: Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company

Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company
BUS 520
August 08, 2011

1. Discuss the role of leadership and how it can impact organizational performance. The role of leadership is the process of developing ideas and a vision, along with living by values that support those ideas and vision, and influencing others to embrace them in their own behaviors and making hard decisions about human and other resources” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010, p.25). Leadership is also accomplishing something through others that would have never happen if a leader was not involved. In order for leadership to impact an organization there would have to be ideas and values established that will energize others to follow ones lead. It is most essential that employees within organization are able to confine with the vision, ideas, and values of an organization’s leadership. Therefore, if the employees are not firm believers in an organization’s leadership, they will not follow the vision and values of the leadership within that organization, which will ultimately lead its failure. In order for organization to remain or become successful, their employees should not only believe in its vision, they should believe in its leadership well as. There are several ways that leadership can impact organizational performance, one would have to say that the most important element is when an organization can adopt a corporate belief system and apply this belief system at the highest leadership levels to start with. This would be a great display of leading by example. Therefore when employees can witness that their leadership has bought-in to these corporate beliefs, along with placing the goals of the organization above their own personal success. They would more than likely prompt to follow them with adopting