Essay about Four Leaders

Muhammad Yunus (Born 28^th June 1940 Bathua, Bengal)

Muhammad Yunus was born to a middle class family. He did his primary education from the local school at his village. He was always participated in social activities. At his college in Chittagong, Bengal, he participated in stage dramas and other cultural activities. He did his BA in 1961 from Dhaka University. He majored in Economics. In 1965 he received his Fulbright Scholarship. He received his PHD in economics from the Vanderbilt University in 1971.

Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in Dhaka in 1982 after his return to Bengal (“Grameen Bank – Bank For Small Business). He led the organization till 2011. This bank was a pioneer in microfinancing. Muhammad Yunus was the main architect of microfinancing services the bank offered. He lead from the front and visited poor neighborhoods by himself. He was always present personally to guide his staff. The bank provided poor women from Dhaka with loans up to $27 that was used by them to Wove Bamboo stools “Brief History of Microlending – Lend Academy,”). The rate on repayment on these loans have been astonishing 98%. In 2006 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to “social development from below”.

Stephen R. Covey (Born 24^th October 1932, Died 16t July 2012)

Steven Covey was a well know American Author, Businessman and speaker. He has written many best seller books. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is one of the bestselling book written by Steven Covey and this book has become his identity. He was born to a devoted Christian family. He was himself a practicing Christian. Steven lived with his wife at their family home in Provo, Utah. He did his BSc from the University of Utah in business studies. He then did his MBA from Harvard University and a PHD from Brigham Young University (“Stephen Covey – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,”).

Stephen Covey was the co-founder of FranklinCovey Leadership Training Organization (“FranklinCovey – Investor Relations – In the News & Releases,”).  He believed in the true sense of humanity. He led his organization and trained other’s in the art of leading with a focus on being ordinary humans and not some manipulative beings. He was a keynote speaker at many conferences where he stressed on the importance of “trust” in our family and organizational lives. He said that one’s mission statement should be such that each and every one from the organization should have participated in it.

Alan Mulally (Born 4^th August 1945 Oakland, California)

Alan Malally is an American Business Executive. He did his BSc and MSc in engineering from the University of Kansas. He then went on to study management and did his Master’s degree in Management from MIT in 1982.

Allan Mulally is best known for his contributions to making Ford a profitable organization once again after the economic crunch faced by the global economy in the first decade of the 21^st century. He served their as a CEO and President till 2014. He believed in solving organizational problems with extensive negotiations and he demonstrated this while he negotiated four deals with United AutoMobile Workers to bring their labor cost down by $21/hour.

While Allan Mulally taught that it is important to manage your time, it is more important to manage your energy. He taught that this energy can be gained from your family, exercise or religious activities. Allan Mulally stressed on the importance of each and every employee to understand the organizational vision. He said that only then can the organizational goals be achieved (“Alan Mulally Leadership Style – Business Insider,”).

Mark Zuckerberg (Born 14^th May 1984)

Mark Zukerberg is the co-founder and current CEO of the social networking website Facebook. He was born in White Plains, New York. His father is a dentist and mother is a psychiatrist. He was an excellent student at Ardsley High School. He was always interested in computer programing. It was Harvard University from where he launched Facebook with 4 other friends and it became famous in no time. To make Facebook an international success, he had to dedicate his full time to Facebook and had to drop out of his studies at Harvard. He believed from the beginning that Facebook is going to be a great success. This is why he was ready to drop out of Harvard in pursuit of his dream and vision.

Mark Zukerberg is an innovation welcoming leader. The Facebook Headquarter at Menlo Park, California is designed in such a way that all Facebook employees feel comfortable (“Facebook Headquarters | Projects | Gensler,”). There are no specific office rooms and cabins. The main idea behind this environment is to promote creativity and idea sharing. Mark is dedicated to hi vision and is open to discuss any idea with his employee that may bring quality to Facebook.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude my discussion by pointing out some of the similarities between the leaders that I have discussed. In my opinion all the leaders had one thing in common, they were firm believers in their goals and they were ready to dedicate their full energies to achieve these goals. All of the leaders have been fair to their employees and have strived to be directly involved with them. They have been successful only because they have led from the front and with an example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

A Brief History of Microlending – Lend Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.lendacademy.com/a-brief-history-of-microlending/

Alan Mulally Leadership Style – Business Insider. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/alan-mulally-leadership-style-2013-11

Facebook Headquarters | Projects | Gensler. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gensler.com/projects/facebook-headquarters

FranklinCovey – Investor Relations – In the News & Releases. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://investor.franklincovey.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=102601&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1715062

Grameen Bank – Bank For Small Business |. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.grameen-info.org/

 

Stephen Covey – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Covey