Leadership Change

Implementing a Leadership Change at Gene One

Introduction and Background

Gene One was founded in 1996 and has become a successful biotech company. It has developed some remarkable technologies that enable its customers to eradicate various diseases in tomatoes and potatoes. This technology allows farmers to grow more organic crops by not needing chemicals and pesticides to sustain a healthy output. This technological discovery has boosted Gene One from a start-up to a $400 million dollar company in a short amount of time. With the death of the CEO of Gene One, Don Ruiz, it is up to the remaining family members, including the author, to decide on the new CEO. The Ruiz family has demonstrated unanimous consent that in order for the continued success to remain at Gene One, a new leadership structure must be implemented. The following sections describe the analysis of the new structure and need for change.

Unfortunately the need for change was brought about by the death of the CEO. While this was a traumatic event for the company, there was talk of going public beforehand. This talk brought on a review by the family and other sources of the current leadership state. The need for change was apparent before Don Ruiz’s death. Now the need for a new CEO has kicked the ideas into high gear. If Gene One follows Kotter’s Eight Step Plan for Implementing Change the hopes for a successful transition will be increased. Unfortunately the first step, “establishing a sense of urgency by creating a compelling reason for why change is needed” was instituted for the company. The 2nd step, “form a coalition with enough power to lead the change” is the next step. That process has already begun with the family of Don Ruiz presenting their individual analyses of the new leadership structures that are to be considered.

Possible Leadership Styles for the new CEO of Gene One

One of the largest hindrances to Gene One was the lack of leadership. Because of this it is...