The self-directed learning that our group wanted to focus on deals with real world examples of leadership. We wanted to see the way three CEOs lead their company into the future (by vicariously learning from examples in the real world). While observing their individual styles, we will elaborate on leadership theories taught in class with life examples, but also mention possible underlying characteristics that helped these people rise to the top. The three CEOs that we will look at are Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard Co., Michael Dell of Dell Computers, and August Busch III of Anheuser Busch Co. All of these CEOs are similar in their styles, but yet they are all very different.

Our strategy was to look at as many information rich articles, reports, journals and websites about our topic and to tie them back to class in order to learn as much as possible. From the very beginning we gathered data on leadership and leadership by example that helped us figure out what we wanted to focus on. We researched many different CEOs and narrowed the list down to three. After this we looked for explicit articles that explained and illustrated the leadership styles of each CEO. Upon reading these articles, we analyzed and dissected each possible theory that helps explain their leadership styles and how each affects the way they run their company

After researching August III, it is very hard to classify him into a particular style of leadership, yet he was a very successful businessman and leader for the brewery. As stated in class, a leader can exhibit transformational leadership and/or transactional leadership, or neither. August Busch in general does not exhibit either theory. At times he may show transformational leadership by stressing the importance of employee’s involvement in the success of Anheuser-Busch, however, these examples are few and far between. As stated in Business Week, August III is “shrewd” and perhaps the “sternest Busch” since the 1800s. He runs the company with an iron fist (Khermouch, 72-3).

There are four main dimensions, otherwise known as the 4I’s, for transformational leaders. These characteristics can often be overlapped and classified in different categories within the four dimensions of transformational leadership. The first dimension or the first “I” is idealized influence, which states that leaders use charisma to appeal to their followers. Fiorina exhibits this through her celebrity image at Hewlett-Packard. According to one article, “Employees can seem awestruck in Fiorina’s presence” (Lashinsky, 100).

Our goal of learning about each CEO’s real-life leadership skills will focus primarily on the material that we covered in class, at times supporting or contradicting these theories with the three real world examples. We will also strive to learn more information about leadership that was not explicitly stated in class discussion.

Some topics in this essay:
HP Compaq, Michael Dell, Learning Goal, CEO Fortune, Busch III, Busch III’s, CEO Hewlett-Packard, Learning Strategies, Co CEOs, August III, michael dell, leadership styles, busch iii, transformational leadership, real world, august busch, leadership style, theories taught class, computer industry, carly fiorina, theories taught, followers fiorina exhibits, august busch iii, real world examples, trait theory leadership,