HBR Article 3

3. Why should anyone be led by you by Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones (pp. 79-96)
Note: Please find this complete article in HBR Ten must read on Leadership.pdf on your VLE
Q 3.1 One of the four unexpected qualities that inspirational leaders share is that “they heavily rely
on intuition to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions”. Do you agree or
disagree? Why? Explain with an appropriate example of a 20th- or 21st-century leader.
ANSWER
LinkedIn's CEO Jeff Weiner said “Soft skills are more important than knowing how to code in today's
job environment.”
The above mention statement is the proof that agreeing with the quality mention will be better
because without having the soft and hard data a leader can never analyse or predict the future
situations. Having the knowledge of how to get data and interpret it is a skill which leads the leader to
that point where he or she has the idea that this is the point to hit the target. When a number of people
are working with you they know very well that you are the one and only person who can help them
whenever they want. A leader must have the knowledge and skills that at this time I have to collect
the information and when there is a need of it I will use it in a proper manner.
Elon Musk one of the famous leaders is known that how he up lifted a company that was about to be
shutdown forever. Having the skills and data he worked day and night by proving that how in
appropriate manner one can achieve whatever he or she wants. He can choose any organization for his
practices and calculations but he chose Tesla because due to emission of hazardous gases and fuels
the world was getting polluted and destroyed by that time he came with an idea to introduce an
electric power generated vehicles which produce zero percent of hazardous chemicals and it can help
to get the world environment same as it was before fresh and healthy.

Q.3.2 “If you don’t show some weakness, then observers may invent one for you”. What does it
mean? Explain with an example.
ANSWER
Being a human there is no one that is perfect in every aspect. Each one of us has some flaws that can
distort the human mind if not used properly. Being a leader having multiple minds and nature people
working with him or her means that if they point out any of your weakness before you then it can
break you emotionally and it’s very difficult to recover so it’s better to put your own selected
weakness in front of them so that you are already known with the steps that you can take to handle
when discussed.
Miss Samantha the CEO of Easy Logistics (assumed) is a famous person for the qualities and skills
she has. She is good at calculations and mostly liked by her way of communication. People working
here appreciate her efforts and due to this they are more into her. She being a leader have qualities as
well as some weaknesses out which one is that she thinks too much negative whether be it an
employee or the projects she is linked with. She assumes that this person is more likely to stab me in
the back when I need help even she think that if the project fails then it will be because of me. One
day in a meeting she told everyone that some issues need to be discussed and their solutions to be
present on the same day. She said that many of us are performing well but some needs to be worked
on which shows that she blames herself too in such a way that her weakness isn’t shown and she got
the courage and energy to portray in front of everyone.

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Q. 3.3 Identify different dangers associated with inspirational leaders in terms of their sensing
skills.
ANSWER
When the person becomes the leaders with the responsibilities come the dangers too. However, you
great are whatever your skills have without having and handling dangers you can’t exist.
Following the dangers that are associated with inspirational leaders mention below:

 The fear of loss of followers.

 Rise of mistrust between leader and follower.
 Lesser confidence when facing the people.
 Chances of failure after the use of sensing skills.
 Poor calculations while prediction.

Q.3.4 Why it is important for inspirational leaders to demonstrate their serious and proactive
concern for their teams? Do we observe its similar or different perspectives in public and
private business organizations? Why? Explain with appropriate examples.

ANSWER
People working in private and public business organizations have different mind sets. They are
differentiated on each and every level whether at an executive level or at director level. It’s known
that every person doesn’t have the knowledge and expertise to do each and every work. For that
leaders are created so they can sense and guide that who can do what.
For example, Mr Bashir and Mr Fazal are good friends but are from different backgrounds and have
different mind sets. Mr Bashir works in a public organization and Mr Fazal works in a private
organization. Mr Bashir is towards getting the work done by any means but Mr Fazal thinks that how
to get it done. Mr Bashir focus on getting the people hired but Mr Fazal focuses on what kind of
person should be hire for this job. Mr Bashir do meetings but the end results are what he says on other
hand Mr Fazal meetings always end with multiple options which directly motivates people to give
better opinions. It’s clearly shown that being a leader and showing concern for your followers is not
an easy task because every person is not interested in motivating people.

Q. 3.5 According to authors, leaders are rarely great coaches. What is your opinion about this
statement in the context of Pakistani ‘for profit’ business enterprises? Explain with an
example.
ANSWER
Malik Riaz is one of the renowned person in the list of leaders of business enterprises. He is famous
for his intellectual mind set and skills he has. He came up with the idea of establishing a housing
society with other multiple projects. He started from the scratch and became a billionaire within no
time. He showed from his skills that every person can be famous only if he or she knows what skills
to use at what time. Moreover, he is into some welfare programs like he donated a million to the
victims of earth quake of 2005. He also gave a big amount to get the captain and the crew of the ship
to get freedom from Somalian pirates. It shows the he built motivation for others to do the same. But
not every time he proved himself. Many situations came where he turns the table in his on favour and
ignored the scenes created because of him.

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