A Ceo's Influence on the Performance of a Company

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Jeffrey Pfeffer published a review which supported the theory that leaders have little influence on the performance of a company. His findings presented a case that proved the difference between successful and unsuccessful companies had less to do with the leadership at the helm of the company and more with a variety of other factors that leaders would have very little control over including the macro-economic environment, industry, products and markets. Though there are factors that can influence a company’s performance that a leader cannot control, it’s the decisions that are made by a leader given these constraints that would have a greater impact on the company’s performance. These decisions are influenced by the characteristics and attributes of a particular leader. Thus to counter Jeffrey’s findings of the little impact a leader has on a company’s success one can consider the findings of Jim Collins. He saw that companies that were able to attain and sustain greatness had one common denominator which was a “level 5” leader. These leaders tend to have a humble resolve whilst possessing a strong professional will which had the effect of them being able to be committed and unwavering with decisions that changed the course of direction of the company in a positive manner. Jim Collins presented the case of a number of companies including both Walgreens and Kimberly Clarke where the level 5 leaders made critical decisions about the bottom line that would not have been a popular decision at the time but their belief of the impact of these decisions and stoic resolve to implementing them resulted in prolonged success for these companies. These examples also illustrated how even though these companies were in different industries both experienced similar results which is attributed to the impact of level 5 leaders being at the helm. In addition to the personality

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