BOH4M
Leadership Styles Essay Draft
Khanh Duy Dao (K)
COMPARE/CONTRAST ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
Human beings are the most powerful, intelligent animal. We stay on the top of the food
chain on Earth, but we don’t have the biggest muscles or the highest speed. Some can say that it’s
because God gave us the gift from heaven of “a brain full of knowledge.” Nevertheless, thousands
of years ago when human spears were less sharp than animal claws, we still found a lot of evidence
that proves humans used to hunt, bigger wild prey. What is the true superpower that led us to the
top of the world through those difficult historical times? We have strong organizational skills, but
in this case, we need good leaders. Leaders exist at every level, providing guidance, motivation,
and clarity, and inspiring confidence among those around them – whether they are fellow
employees or not. However, whether a manager is a good or a bad leader will depend on their
leadership style and how they lead their team to achieve their goals. A good leader usually uses
the right leadership style at the right time and right situation. As a result a bad leader is one who
usually makes the wrong decision in random situations. To be considered here are two successful
leaders from the films “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech,” Mark Zuckerberg and
King George VI. King George VI's leadership in "The King's Speech" is more transformational,
focused on personal growth, and rooted in humility and empathy, whereas Mark Zuckerberg's
leadership in "The Social Network" is entrepreneurial, ambitious, and driven by innovation and
competition in the technology industry.
According to Uagc.edu, In 1939, German-American psychologist Kurt Lewin is credited with
branding the basic leadership styles (based on his research on schoolchildren.
The main idea of this research was to determine which leadership style was the most effective to
use in business. Lewin identified three styles of leadership: Autocratic, Democratic, and Laissezfaire and one that is commonly grouped in with Lewin’s three is Transformational Leadership.
Autocratic leadership is also known as Authoritarian leadership. This kind of leader leads his team
by his determination. They dictate the particular work or deadline for each member and rarely
listens to other perspectives. On the opposite side of “Don’t question my command”, we have
Democratic leadership or Participative leadership. With this leadership, all the policies will be
voted on through discussion or a meeting, then be summarized, and the final decision will be made
by the leader, so that the tasks can be done by the best person with the best experience. If you
wonder how Batman always plays around and is still a billionaire here is the answer to that
question: Laissez-faire leadership; what a beautiful name for the true meaning of this leadership
style.
The last of the classic leadership styles is Transformational Leadership. It allows
continuous information exchange between the leaders and the employees so that the team is eager
to transform and evolve personally and professionally. Over time, more and more leadership styles
have been defined, like coaching, bureaucracy, etc. Basically, your leadership style is based on
factors like experience, personality what kind of industry your company is in, and its
organizational culture. Also, depending on a specific situation, wise leaders should be flexible to
change from one style to a more productive style which is suitable for the problems his or her
company is dealing with. In consequence, leadership styles play a significant role in the managerial
job; how leaders impact their employees affects the success of their company or we can say every
achievement a company can get depends on its boss’s leadership style.
Nowadays, we have Mark Zuckerberg, an awkward but brilliant computer geek. He grew
up on Long Island, New York in an upper-middle-class family. His personality has many
deficiencies. He is self-fish, sarcastic, arrogant, quick-witted, and defensive. His personality can
be counted as his advantage but also his disadvantage; The Social Networking(: “You are probably
going to be a very successful computer person but you’re gonna go through life thinking that girls
don’t like you,” because Mark is mercilessly logical, his ability to maintain relationships is further
hindered. It can also mean that he is willing to cut off any relationships that he feels is a threat to
his success. According to Zuckerberg’s personalities, I can define his main leadership style as
Autocratic leadership; he made the whole company's decisions by himself and just took a little
input from his best friend Eduardo.
More than 80 years ago, there was King George – another example of a successful leader.
He grew up in luxury and royalty, but that doesn’t mean that everything will happen like fairy a
tale for him. He has a serious stutter, which was a result of a terrible childhood. To be honest,
before Lionel, the Duke of York accepts treatment for his stutter and becomes the King, he is a
Laissez-faire leader. He always tries to avoid his duties and easily gets angry when someone tries
to get him on the right path. But after being cured and being able to use vocal techniques and
singing, … he could finally read his speech as King of England. At the moment he successfully
improved, his leadership style changed into a Democratic and Transformational style.
In the main, these two people have many similarities but also many differences. Regarding
their similarities, we can easily say that they are both successful in their leadership career. They
are both determined leaders.
Mark Zuckerberg regrets the idea of making money from advertising contracts when Facebook
still needed to be improved and had a big opportunity to become bigger and bigger than just a
small website for Harvard students. He also stabbed his best friend who gave him money to start
up Facebook because Guardo’s vision was too thoughtless for him and it could be a big wall for
the evolution of Facebook. On the other hand, Bertie’s determination is shown when he recognized
the importance of clear communication and was willing to work hard to improve his speech. Before
being a king, Bertie always kept his duty of helping his brother become the true king and he can
do everything to accomplish his goal.
In terms of differences, King George VI in "The King's Speech" and Mark Zuckerberg in
"The Social Network" are two very different individuals. They live in distinct historical contexts
and had a different quality of life and position. Hence, their leadership styles naturally differ. While
King George VI was the King of an empire, Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of a multinational
company. Bertie can be described as a Transformational leader because he overcame his speech
impediment which enabled him to have better communication skills. In comparison, Zuckerberg
showed that he has entrepreneurial leadership. He is driven by a vision to create and expand
Facebook, and he is willing to take risks and make bold decisions to achieve his goals. Besides
that, Zuckerberg is an Autocratic leader. He does almost everything on his own: planning, and
coding and just takes a little help from his friends Guardo and Will.
On the other side, the Duke of York needs help from others to complete his purpose. He
got psychological help from Lionel, but the biggest one is his brother, who abdicated the throne.
This was not help but it was an external reason for him to become the King. Bertie can be described
as a democratic leader.
He wished for the speech therapy sessions to be “strictly business, no personal nonsense,“ (The
King’s speech) which was not all that Logue wanted to do to cure the king’s stutter. However,
after talking the matter over, Logue, who is in this situation the leader figure, decides to do what
they believe would be best. All in all, In "The King's Speech," King George VI's leadership is
characterized by a transformative approach that prioritizes personal growth, marked by a strong
foundation of humility and empathy. On the other hand, in "The Social Network," Mark
Zuckerberg's leadership is entrepreneurial, driven by ambition, and fueled by a commitment to
innovation and competition within the tech industry. These differences are influenced by their
respective contexts and character portrayals in their respective films. They are both good leaders.
Although these two guys have different backgrounds, historical contexts and styles in leadership;
they have their way of fixing their problems and achieving what they want. In consequence, my
perspective is more inclined toward Zuckerberg even though he is an ungrateful man, but I think
selfishness is needed to be a good leader. The Duke of York depended too much on others and it
could be his fatal weakness. A good leader can’t depend too much on other people. We first must
depend on ourselves.
Works Cited
Sources:
https://www.uagc.edu/blog/4-leadership-styles-in-business
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/10-common-leadership-styles
https://fmoviesz.to/home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v05i0MLseS8&ab_channel=MTDTrainingLeadership%2CSales%26BusinessTips