The Leadership Styles of Richard Branson and Saddam Hussein Research Paper

Leadership

SADDAM HUSSEIN VS RICHARD BRANSON

COMPARISON OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND ABILITIES

In comparing two very successful leaders we will be able discern the key qualities and actions that made them either a good leader or a bad leader. The path both Saddam Hussein and Richard Branson took to elevate themselves to the high level leaders each of them became will be discussed and I will compare and contrast the methods of leader development and the advantages and disadvantages each provides.

Saddam Hussein

Born in Tikrit, Iraq in 1937, Saddam Hussein endured a humble existence and difficult childhood. Nevertheless, the secularist Hussein was a political animal who rose through political ranks with the Ba'ath Party, learning his leadership methods by studying Josef Stalin (Hickman, 2003). In 1968, a bloodless coup by the Ba'ath Party resulted in the Presidency of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and the high government position of al-Bakr's Deputy for Hussein (Biography.com editors, n.d.). As Deputy, Hussein was advanced, successful and ruthless, modernizing Iraq's infrastructure, economy, lucrative oil industry, education and healthcare systems while establishing a cruel security system that regularly used torture, rape and murder to protect the government against coups and to eliminate Hussein's political rivals (MacFarquhar, 2006). The citizenry of Iraq justifiably feared Hussein's brutal and deadly methods, dubbing him "The Butcher of Baghdad" (Siemaszko, 2015). In 1979, Hussein forced al-Bakr's resignation and became President of Iraq. Under his Presidency, Iraq invaded the oil-rich area of Khuzestan, Iran in 1980, setting off an 8-year war costing hundreds of thousands of lives. Fearing Islamic radicalism, Western countries backed Hussein, turning a blind eye to his internationally illegal invasion of Iran, development of chemical weapons and nuclear weapons and near-genocide of Iraqi Kurds. In 1988, a ceasefire was reached; however, the war had severely damaged Iraq's economy. Consequently, in 1990, Hussein invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait and ignored a 1991 withdrawal date imposed by the UN Security Council. In response, UN forces led by the United States attacked Iraq and temporarily subdued Hussein's government. In 2002, after declaring that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, the United States waged war against Iraq, toppling its government and sending Hussein into hiding. Hussein was captured in 2003, tried in 2004 for crimes against humanity, found guilty and hanged on December 30, 2006.

Saddam Hussein was an odd dichotomy. He deftly rose through the political ranks to a position of supreme authority in Iraq and radically modernized Iraq in several key areas. However, he was ultimately a horrible leader in at least four respects, discussed here in no particular order of importance. First, he cavalierly and widely executed Iraqi citizens, sometimes for "offenses" no more serious than publicly joking about him or criticizing him, and constricting Iraq into a deadly police state that habitually imprisoned, tortured and lethally gassed its own citizens (MacFarquhar, 2006). Secondly, Hussein possessed a delusional, egotistical belief that he was ordained by God to rule and "save" Iraq, resulting in the mandatory placement of his statue at the entrance to every Iraqi village and his portrait in every Iraqi government office and home. In fact, Hussein's delusional egoism was so overblown that even while in captivity in 2003-2006, he still regarded himself as Iraq's President, somehow destined to regain his tyrannical power over the country (MacFarquhar, 2006). Third, nepotism rose to an art form during his Presidency. He crammed the highest ranks of government with his own relatives, leading to incompetent leadership and bloody family feuds that crippled rather than strengthened Iraqi government (MacFarquhar, 2006). Fourth, he subjected his nation to wars that sapped Iraq's resources. As Sollozzo said in "The Godfather," "Blood is a big expense." Hussein's decisions to invade the neighboring countries of Iran and Kuwait resulted in severe economic sanctions from the West against an economy otherwise drained and a citizenry decimated by years of war (MacFarquhar, 2006). Rather than building up and securing his country's economy, Hussein's aggressive approach to other countries caused Iraq to suffer terribly, negating much of the advances he made by modernizing the country. In the last analysis, Hussein was a terrible leader whose execution of his own citizens, delusional egoism, nepotism and expensive aggression toward neighboring countries nearly destroyed his own nation.

b. Richard Branson

Born in 1950 in Surrey, England, Richard Branson was a struggling student, at least partly due to his dyslexia, and dropped out of school at the age of 16. In that same year of 1966, Branson launched a youth culture magazine called "Student." The modest success of "Student" spurred Branson to create a mail-order record company named "Virgin." "Virgin's" success led Branson to open a record shop in London. The success of his record shop prompted Branson to open a recording studio in 1972. In 1973, one of the recording studio's aspiring recording artists, Mike Oldfield, recorded a single called "Tubular Bells," which was a huge hit and remained on the United Kingdom charts for 247 weeks. The success of "Tubular Bells" gave Branson the momentum to sign many other promising artists and established artists such as "The Rolling Stones." Again and again, Branson has used his successes and even his occasional failures to establish and expand Virgin Group, including 200 businesses in 30 countries. In 2009, Branson was listed in "Forbes" as a self-made billionaire with estimated wealth of $2.5 billion (Biography.com editors, n.d.).

Branson deems himself a rule breaker who never learned the rules of leadership in the first place. Rather than following a standard formula for business success, Virgin Group prides itself in doing things differently (Schawbel, 2014). Branson's top 10 rules for being a great leader are: follow passions, do good, believe in your business, have fun, don't give up, listen more and talk less, make room for personal time through delegation, meet people, communicate among all levels of your company, and be happy (Feloni, 2015). People are compelled to work for Branson for his several unique characteristics: his genuine interest in people; his generous use of praise and rewards; his overall creation of a family bond in the workplace; and his unusual exceedingly high valuation of employees, even over his valuation of customers (McDonald, n.d.).

There are at least four reasons for Richard Branson's continued success, discussed here in no particular order of importance. First, as his biography shows, Branson consistently builds on one victory or even one failure to build a new success. Branson expanded from a little student newspaper to a mail-order record company to a record store to a record studio and on until the present day, in which his Virgin Group consists of more than 200 companies in more than 30 countries (Biography.com editors, n.d.). Clearly, he is a forward-thinking leader who is constantly looking to expand and diversify into a number of ventures, usually but not always based on the successes of his prior ventures. Secondly, Branson always "protects the downside" (Feloni, 2015). He does not enter a business venture that would utterly destroy his business if it fails; rather, he takes deliberate steps to hedge his bets on a venture in order to sidestep the worst possible outcome. For example, he was able to attract investors in Virgin Airlines by garnering Boeing's promise to take back Virgin's single 747 jet if the business was not functioning as intended (Feloni, 2015). Consequently, even Branson's failures cannot destroy his business interests. Third, he so specifically and highly values his employees that working for him is a stimulating, positive experience. This distinctively generous spirit toward employees allows him to attract and retain exceptional talent for his ventures. Attraction and retention of talent is one of the major challenges of business; however, Branson's approach to his employees is so exceptionally appreciative that he is able to significantly reduce that major challenge (McDonald, n.d.). Fourth, Branson cultivates ready communication throughout his organization. Rather than rigidly imposing only standard channels of communications, Branson's employees are encouraged to circulate and communicate with each other regardless of their departments or levels. That communication among employees of all levels fosters beliefs that the employees are valued and heard, even as it enables Branson's companies to generate creative ideas for new and/or improved ventures (Feloni, 2015). Branson's talent for building on success/failure, his protection of the "downside," his distinctively high valuation of employees and the ready communication throughout his organization(s) all contribute to his continued success.

2. Comparison of Leadership Styles, Theory, and Ethics

a. Leadership Styles

Comparison of Branson's and Hussein's leadership styles shows that Branson is a "Theory Y" leader while Hussein was a "Theory X" leader. As Douglas McGregor pointed out, a Theory Y leader like Branson believes that people like to work and do not need close supervision to do their work (Lussier & Achua, 2016, p. 47). Theory Y leaders tend to have positive and optimistic views of employees and participate considerably in the work process, creating and sustaining motivation and rewards within the company. Branson obviously follows Theory Y, highly valuing employees, generously rewarding…