Purpose – Against the background of current leadership theory, this research paper analyses and compares the leadership approaches of two outstanding leaders: Daniel Vasella, chairman of the leading Swiss pharmaceutical organization Novartis and Ricardo Semler, owner of the Brazilian conglomerate Semco. In contrast to many rather abstract, unpractical and pointlessly theoretical papers on leadership this analysis provides a more applied view of leadership by means of the life history approach delivering insight into both leaders’ development and leader personality. Methodology/approach – First, this paper locates the ideas and practices associated with the term “leadership” as a concept through theories that have developed over time and shows how the practices of leading can be derived and understood through chosen theories. Based on this, the specific characteristics and career paths of both leaders are presented and compared so that a final analysis of their leadership approach can be done. The paper is based on secondary sources such as peer-reviewed business journals and literature on leadership. Information about both leaders and their approach to leadership is gathered mainly from published interviews with them. Additional information on Semler is taken from his autobiography. Conclusions – It is difficult to identify an “essence” of leadership, whether that takes the form of personality characteristics or traits, charisma, the ability to transform people or organizations or a brain function. All presented theories of leadership seem to have their raison d’être. Both Vasella and Semler apply a combination of different attitudes and behaviours that characterize their leadership style containing elements of transformational, charismatic, ethical, servant and authentic leadership.
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In de eerste Service Leadership Course van The Customer Connection die in 2009 voor plaatsvond, stond de vraag centraal hoe een organisatie een duurzame en betekenisvolle verbinding met haar klanten tot stand kan brengen. De deelnemers aan de leergang zijn met hun docenten op zoek gegaan naar een antwoord op deze vraag. Met iedere keer een andere docent als inleider werd de centrale vraag vanuit verschillende invalshoeken belicht. Voor de deelnemers was de opdracht om de aangereikte wetenschappelijke inzichten te vertalen naar een eigen organisatievraagstuk en een persoonlijke leerdoelstelling. De zoektocht resulteerde in een aantal verrassende nieuwe inzichten over hoe organisaties functioneren en hoe de eigen klantenkring het best bediend kan worden.Aan het eind van de leergang is de deelnemers gevraagd hun ervaringen en inzichten te verwerken in een essay over een zelfgekozen thema. Dit boek is een bundeling van deze essays en biedt een uitermate rijk en gevarieerd palet aan ervaringen en nieuwe inzichten over onderwerpen waar alle bedrijven de komende jaren mee te maken krijgen. En die een antwoord geven op de grootste uitdaging voor de komende decennia: hoe kun je de beste dienstverlener in de markt worden.
Many students graduating in higher education will achieve a managerial or professional position, with leadership qualities being highly important. The need to reflect on leadership as an important developmental goal in higher education is highlighted by pointing out that many curricula, especially in the managerial, organisational and economic domain, include specific courses on leadership. It seems that some of our thinking on leadership needs revision. According to Kellerman, leaders’ ability to connect to followers is paramount to gain and remain in power. Dutch management scholar Manfred Kets de Vries (2004) underlines that the main responsibility of a leader is to envision and inspire. In this chapter we will examine the role of personality and personal values in the ability of informal leaders to inspire other team members. In the first section we will elaborate on transformational leadership and shared leadership. In the next, we will link these forms of leadership to personality and personal values. In the third section the findings of our empirical study will be discussed. We conclude with the implications of our study for leadership practice and the scholarly field of leadership. From an educational point of view our findings are important. The results shed additional light on the importance of personality traits on leadership, and informal leadership in particular. As leadership is an important phenomenon in society and working life, (under)graduates can be assisted in understanding and developing it. But in the context of this book it should be highlighted that transformational leadership is highly relevant in knowledge innovation (García-Morales et al., 2012), which is a core issue in higher education. Consequently, inspiring others is relevant, because group work is commonly used in higher education. Understanding group dynamics within student teams, informal leadership specifically, can help lecturers to explain and discuss effective and ineffective group work. In our opinion, the results of this study offer interesting evidence-based insights to reflect on and develop those personal characteristics that can be important for informal leadership effectiveness.
The IMPULS-2020 project DIGIREAL (BUas, 2021) aims to significantly strengthen BUAS’ Research and Development (R&D) on Digital Realities for the benefit of innovation in our sectoral industries. The project will furthermore help BUas to position itself in the emerging innovation ecosystems on Human Interaction, AI and Interactive Technologies. The pandemic has had a tremendous negative impact on BUas industrial sectors of research: Tourism, Leisure and Events, Hospitality and Facility, Built Environment and Logistics. Our partner industries are in great need of innovative responses to the crises. Data, AI combined with Interactive and Immersive Technologies (Games, VR/AR) can provide a partial solution, in line with the key-enabling technologies of the Smart Industry agenda. DIGIREAL builds upon our well-established expertise and capacity in entertainment and serious games and digital media (VR/AR). It furthermore strengthens our initial plans to venture into Data and Applied AI. Digital Realities offer great opportunities for sectoral industry research and innovation, such as experience measurement in Leisure and Hospitality, data-driven decision-making for (sustainable) tourism, geo-data simulations for Logistics and Digital Twins for Spatial Planning. Although BUas already has successful R&D projects in these areas, the synergy can and should significantly be improved. We propose a coherent one-year Impuls funded package to develop (in 2021): 1. A multi-year R&D program on Digital Realities, that leads to, 2. Strategic R&D proposals, in particular a SPRONG/sleuteltechnologie proposal; 3. Partnerships in the regional and national innovation ecosystem, in particular Mind Labs and Data Development Lab (DDL); 4. A shared Digital Realities Lab infrastructure, in particular hardware/software/peopleware for Augmented and Mixed Reality; 5. Leadership, support and operational capacity to achieve and support the above. The proposal presents a work program and management structure, with external partners in an advisory role.
The aim of the ProInCa project was to develop the sustainable innovation capacity of Kazakhstan’s Medical Universities for the modernization of nursing. The project was coordinated by JAMK University of Applied Sciences and consisted of a consortium of five Kazakhstani medical universities and four European higher education institutions. The project was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education programme and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan during 15.10.2017 – 31.01.2021.he wider objective of the ProInCa project is to develop the sustainable innovation capacity of Kazakhstan’s Medical Universities for the modernization of nursing. This wider objective is divided into four specific objectives, which are:1. Development of mechanisms for collaboration and knowledge sharing between academic national and international nursing community and society.2. To learn from best practices on implementing evidence-based nursing in nursing research, education and practice to promote the efficiency and quality of health care.3. Strengthen higher education institutes’ role in building evidence-based nursing research activities in health services to promote quality and safety of health care system.4. Promote the capacity and system of nursing leadership and management in health care transition to improve the quality of health care system
