Leadership

Carly Fiorina is a person that displayed outstanding potential to be a successful leader of HP for the 21st century; her rise to power provided a company that was losing touch with extreme optimism. She was a high profile candidate, that the company thought could bring back a competitive edge, however various leadership decisions during her tenure lead to her abrupt downfall. It has been argued by many that she was incompetent and not appropriately skilled for the job, this essay will provide an analysis of the various key factors such as leadership traits which will look into the different types of characteristics that differs a leader from a normal individual. We will also look into cognitive issues, specifically social intelligence and the degree to which she shows this. Also we will look into stereotypical bias issues and how it relates to this female CEO, which will conclude whether there were external forces to blame in her departure from HP. And lastly we will analyse the various styles of leadership that Carly demonstrated during her time in power and whether that style was appropriate for the present circumstances she faced.

Firstly we need to look into the various traits of Carly Fiorina and by linking this to leadership trait theory we can develop an idea about how well equipped she was for her job. The first key characteristic of leadership is drive, possessing this ability allows a leader to be determined and focused to achieve goals. Before Carly was appointed CEO, she was a successful salesperson, she was described as ‘one of the great salespeople of her industry’ she demonstrated that she wanted to achieve great things and took on tough assignments. Secondly a leader needs to show a motivation to lead; the ability to exercise power over others and delegate is a key factor that non leaders lack, Carly proved to exercise excessive power over employee’s and implemented major changes very rapidly within the organisation, this displayed a...