Leadership Profile Essay

When examing what makes a good leader you can ask a very simple question, what I believe to be a very important factor, which is, do they have passion in what they do? Leaders in business today have to have a passion for what they do in order to make a successful and influential leader. The success of any company is only as great as the employees on the forefront make it. Transformational leadership is a form of leadership that occurs when leaders ‘broaden and elevate the interests of their employees, when they generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and the mission of the group and when they stir their employees to look beyond their own self-interest for the good of the group† (Bass, 1990). Transformational leadership has the ability to generate a higher commitment to the company from its’ employees. I believe that Sam Walton, the Founder of Walmart had this ability. Walmart as we know it today evolved from Sam Walton’s goals for great value and great customer service. â€Å"Mr. Sam,† as he was known, believed in leadership through service. This belief that true leadership depends on willing service was the principle on which Walmart was built, and drove the decisions the company has made for the past 50 years. So much of Walmart’s history is tied to the story of Sam Walton himself, and so much of our future will be rooted in Mr. Sam’s principles† (Walmart, 2012). You can see this principle the moment that you walk in to any Walmart store. There is a greeter there to meet you everytime. Sam Walton made sure that from the time that you walked in the door that you had great customer service experience. Not only will it make the customer feel welcomed, but it will also help repeat business. To obtain this type of customer service level, the leader behind the scenes needs to create â€Å"buy ‘in† from their employees. The employees need to believe in what they are doing and understand the goal of the company. One of the towering strengths of Sam Walton was his unique ability to gain the trust and support of the people around him. He called his customers â€Å"neighbors† or â€Å"guests† and he referred to the managers in his company as ‘coaches’† (Bergdahl). The first Walmart was opened in 1962 and by 1970, the company went public because of how much it had grown. This is a true testament of a good leader having a clear vision of what he wants for his company and what he expect from the employees. His vision alone is what makes him so effective. He believed that offering lower prices and greater customer service can make all the difference to a business. Seeing the success of Walmart proves this theory. Employees easily understand the goal of the company. They too benefit from the lower prices. According to Michael Bergdahl, author of The 10 Rules of Sam Walton, Sam Walton was a man who had a vision, never gave up, and was optimistic. These are just a few of the characteristics of Sam Walton that have affected many people. â€Å"Walton also a leader who close to the employees. Often vanity top executives has led to the collapse of a company. They tend to build a distance (gap) with front-line employees. The bigger of the company, usually the greater the possibility of these leaders have lost contact with the front-line employees. But not so with Sam Walton, he was a leader who humble and modest. Throughout his life, he often visited the front lines of every store. Sam Walton’s leadership style is close to the employee coloring corporate culture of Wal-Mart today† (Bergdahl).