MAC - Week 4 Leadership Project: Leadership Role Model Reflection
When the word “leadership” comes to mind, immediately I am taken back to my days of the electronics and home entertainment industry. Leadership was primarily a synonym for manipulation. We became professionals in the craft of sales. I lead this life for ten years, before switching my life into a far less lucrative path, education.
In academia, leadership tends to take on a sour connotation. After all, leadership is administration. Who hasn’t head one horror story or another of “THEM” trying to “get you” or “make your life miserable”? But really, who would want to make a profession out of making others miserable. Not I.
My ideal definition of leadership is one where one leads by example. I think leaders are hard working, inventive, and above all giving to the community at large. If giving provides the example to ignite others to give, we would truly transform the world. My ideal leadership models come from two very different men, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. If only they had combined forces… Steve Jobs was the incredibly inventive and creative leader. A leader that is able to connect with the masses with a personal ease and the well-crafted “Everyman” persona. His company and products fit seamlessly into our lifestyles. Jobs was a true renaissance man that will continue to inspire others to follow his methods. 
On the other side of the personality coin, we have Bill Gates. Mr. Gates is a more calculating and logical leader. His methods of integration and global domination have successfully catapulted him in the leadership ranks. He uses his name and success to run the largest private foundation in the world. As a leadership team, with his wife, the base their foundation on four key values: Optimism, Collaboration, Rigor, and Innovation. Every endeavor the foundation pursues fits into these core values. The provide assistance globally and in the United States they assist the field of education and fund the goal of providing access to technology for all students.
Bill and Melinda Gates Community Project
It is this type of leader that is grounded in values of optimism, collaboration, rigor and innovation, which I aim to structure my goals after. In my life after EMDT, I would like to follow their example and assist those without access to technology. Although I may not have the same financial backing, I have expertise, time, and the desire to allow access to information to all.
It is this type of leader that is grounded in values of optimism, collaboration, rigor and innovation, which I aim to structure my goals after. In my life after EMDT, I would like to follow their example and assist those without access to technology. Although I may not have the same financial backing, I have expertise, time, and the desire to allow access to information to all.
Sources:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx
Photos – Wikipedia Commons
Wow, the contribution of these two individuals cannot be measured. Windows changed our world. Microsoft was the beginning of the technology revolution, and is the go-to software for word processing. Steve Jobs changed the way we run our lives with technology. I think the two men had profound respect for one another, even though they were often pitted as rivals. When Microsoft software was made available for Macintosh computers in the early 2000's, another milestone was conquered. These two men are the pioneers of the technology age, and cannot help but be admired.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to hear that it is your desire to pay it forward after EMDT. Whatever is done out of kindness, helps to change the world. Your contribution does not need to be measured with anyone else's. The lives that you impact during your lifetime, may last generations. That is leadership!
When I saw this assignment, my first thought was Steve Jobs, but I went with people who were closer to me.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog posting it got me thinking more about other types of leaders. I definitely feel that Steve Jobs was a leader of a great computer empire, but I know his leadership skills were definitely unconventional. He was known as a "high-maintenance co-worker" who demanded excellence from his staff and was known for his blunt delivery of criticism. However he did it, his success is still around to tell his tale.
Bill Gates is also a great name that is associated with leadership, as well as humanity. However, Gates stepped away from his technology empire and later devoted his efforts to solving the world’s biggest problems. As you mentioned, Gates and his wife are committed to eliminating diseases, increasing development standards, and generally fighting inequality.
Both Jobs and Gates had immeasurable impacts on the world. The world wouldn't be the same without them.
Interesting take on the leadership styles and contribution of two very different men.
ReplyDelete