Melissa Pearl
Managerial Leadership
11/20/2011
Leader of the Century Award Nomination

This letter serves as my nomination of the Leader of the Century award for Sir Richard Branson. I feel that this award is presented to someone who demonstrates integrity and honesty, is an inspiration to others and possesses the ability to learn from himself and others, no matter the situation. These are all characteristics of an effective leader such as Richard Branson.
Branson’s predominant leadership style is charismatic. This is based on referent power as this type of leader is admired by their followers; people want to be like him and are eager to emulate his success. Typically, charismatic leaders have a high level of need for power, and have the ability to motivate others to go above and beyond what is required. They are imaginative, and innovative, thinking that risking life is part of doing business. Being innovative has led to many successful businesses in many different sections. Charismatic leaders “act in unconventional ways, and use unconventional means to transcend the status quo and create change” (Daft, p.322). Richard Branson loves unconventional ways, advertising on blimps over stadiums with a football game in session, frequent hot-balloon rides, and the purchase of his own personal island. I have chosen this style of leadership because although he possesses a high level of authority being the CEO of a large company, Branson doesn’t use external power or authority to gather his followers. Instead, his personality and self-belief are used to elevate and transform others and the organizations he creates, expressing charisma through pursuit of activates he has a true passion for.
Along with charismatic leadership, Branson also displays a transformational leadership style. This way of leading often leaves subordinates with a feeling of reward and strong self-worth as this style is typical of a leader who accomplishes goals, cares about you, and puts everything they’ve got into the task at hand. They can be seen as supportive, often inspiring “followers to go beyond their own self-interests for the good of the group” (Daft, 2011, p. 321). Having a leader who is unselfish and creates change by giving people a sense of self-worth creates a pleasant work environment in an organization. Branson’s companies have always offered a work environment based on a family atmosphere. If any one of Branson’s companies grew too big he would take some of the management and make a new partner company in order to keep things familiar and on a smaller scale. He makes familiarity a priority that his employees are known to each other. The success of transformational leadership is dependent on the leader itself and Branson’s personal values, beliefs, and qualities all support this leadership style.
His source of influence stems from non-fiction books. His autobiography notes that Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography is most inspirational to him. Stating that Mandela’s is "one of the most inspiring men I have ever met and had the honor to call my friend” many of Branson’s charity and ethical work mirrors that of Nelson Mandela.
Richard Branson uses a combination of legitimate and referent power to influence over others. As CEO of the Virgin Group, his position power of formal authority and control results in legitimate power. However, this alone is not strong enough to hold steady and be the only form of influence. Early on in his career he realized that in order to be an effective leader he needed to not rely strictly on positional power. This is when his charisma comes into play and acknowledges the referent power that he displays. Branson has inspirational and personal appeal that makes people identify with him and make them feel good.
Branson displays many key leadership characteristics. On a scale of 1-10 he is ambitious, caring, honest, forward looking, imaginative, competent, determined, inspiring, loyal, and self-controlled.
He showed ambition when he announced his plan to start Virgin Galactic, the world’s first company to provide commercial space flights. He shows care with his pledge to commit $3 billion over the next ten years to the reduction of global warming. His entire autobiography was littered with honesty, every chapter detailed many aspects of his life that most would’ve left on the chopping block. Branson is consistently looking for different way to change his businesses for the better; his forward-looking attitude forges his businesses successfully through problems and issues that arise to become successful. Having companies in so many different realms of business, he is continually imagining different ways to create a company and make it better than a company that provides the same goods. Starting a profitable company such as Virgin Records from the bottom up shows his competency in success and leadership. After many failures and “a competitive and ferocious battle with British Airways”, Branson’s determination prevailed when creating Virgin Airways. All of these qualities make him inspiring, especially to those he leads. He shows his loyalty by stating that "Within the Virgin organization we always put the employees first, then the customer and last comes the shareholders. It is very reasonable: if your employees are happy and motivated, your customers will probably become happy too, which means that your business will sell more and make bigger profits.” His self-control is widely evident in his effective leadership and being a great business leader.
These are all qualities that we should most look for, respect, and admire in a Leader of the Century. According to a survey done by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, followers are more likely drawn to a leader who exemplifies the honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent characteristics. The three top characteristics are in the first five possessed by Branson with honesty being the most important. It is important to weigh in honesty and competence in the selection process for Leader of the Century as 87% of people follow leaders who are honest and 74% who are competent. Leaders must be truthful and ethical, they need to have clear beliefs which they stand for and they must be measured through consistency between words and actions. They should also be capable and effective, know the business they are leading and recognize the type of competency required with their position and the organization. Although Branson may seem clouded by his successes, he is very much aware of world issues and is consistently going out of his way to make a difference in any way he can. His story is fascinating and the world he has built and supports is an evolving empire that will continually benefit those involved.

References:

Branson, Richard. 2002. Losing my virginity: the autobiography / Richard Branson. Random
House Australia, Milsons Point, N.S.W.
Conger, J. A., and R. N. Kanungo (Eds), Charismatic Leadership in Organizations. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1990). The Credibility Factor: What Followers Expect From
Their Leaders. Management Review, 79(1), 29. Daft, R. L. (2011). The leadership experience. (5th ed.). USA: Thomson South-Western.