Leadership & Growth; Explaining Their Co-Dependence

By Justine Massaba

As a corporate employee, I have always found it challenging to step into a business leader's shoes when difficult times arrive. Working in the corporate division puts an employee under many layers of structural hierarchy, making it nearly impossible to understand the challenges of the top leadership. Corporate professionals, like myself, have witnessed many instances where enterprises treat employees as machines. However, the information in this  wonderful piece of writing allowed me to rise above my perspective and see through a strategic business leader's lens.

 

Establishing and operating a business is not child's  play. Executives face many challenges in the process of retaining their employees and offering them an atmosphere they are willing to settle with.Strategic leadership in businesses is the key to business success, growth, and credibility. The vital directions in the  book highlight the significance and impact of an influential  leading force to drive businesses out of toxic cultures into  friendly and encouraging atmospheres. Knowing how to  lead resolves half the problems arising in business management.

This read has everything, from analyzing the business  challenges to creating strategic leadership solutions, which encompass the employer's perspective, employee's  practices, and customer's experiences, not to mention the author's comprehensive effort to dig deep into traditional and modern business spectra.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justine Massaba
• Release date: Feb 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215181942

Book preview

Leadership & Growth.

Explaining Their

Co-Dependence.

A commentary on how strong leadership can change everything.

JUSTINE  MASSABA

For my dear friend and business partner Jocelyne Msigwa, who constantly inspired and helped me become the best version of myself.

Copyright © 2023 Justine Massaba.

ISBN 978-9912-41-0091.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher/ author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Evolution of the Business World.

Transcending from Traditional Practices to Modern Systems.

Business Challenges and Strategic Leadership.

Delegation Failure and Toxic Culture.

Unsafe Workplace Atmosphere.

Meeting Consumers' Expectations.

A Strategic Leader’s Toolkit for Business Management.

Nurturing the Leader Within.

Experimentation Leads to Refinement of Ideas.

Defining Employee Roles.

Creating and Delivering Leadership Solutions.

Adopting Modern Leadership Practices.

The Modern Employee Mindset.

Caring for Employees.

Modern Leadership and Value Addition to Businesses.

Instilling Productivity at the Workplace.

Leadership Performance Analysis.

Foreword

As a corporate employee, I have always found it challenging to step into a business leader’s shoes when difficult times arrive. Working in the corporate division puts an employee under many layers of structural hierarchy, making it nearly impossible to understand the challenges of the top leadership. Corporate professionals, like myself, have witnessed many instances where enterprises treat employees as machines. However, the information in this wonderful piece of writing allowed me to rise above my perspective and see through a strategic business leader’s lens. Establishing and operating a business is not child’s play. Executives face many challenges in the process of retaining their employees and offering them an atmosphere they are willing to settle with.

Strategic leadership in businesses is the key to business success, growth, and credibility. The vital directions in the book highlight the significance and impact of an influential leading force to drive businesses out of toxic cultures into friendly and encouraging atmospheres. Knowing how to lead resolves half the problems arising in business management.

This read has everything, from analyzing the business challenges to creating strategic leadership solutions, which encompass the employer’s perspective, employee’s practices, and customer’s experiences, not to mention the author’s comprehensive effort to dig deep into traditional and modern business spectra.

Introduction

A business is an organic system that needs to be taken care of. You cannot simply set it up, put things in place, and then assume that it will operate independently. A business needs to be led by someone who has their head in the right place. Like a ship sailing the high seas, its captain is tasked with guiding his crew to get where they need and do so in one piece. A captain who has his head correct, knows what he is doing, has the faith of his crew, and has the experience to handle the role he is in will prove to be priceless for the ship. On the other hand, someone who does not fit the role is setting a course for doom and desolation.

The same can be said about the business world and the leadership concept. It isn't enough for you to have a fancy degree or money to invest; you also need to know how to work the business. You need to acknowledge that there are times when you need to make tough decisions when you need to focus on the macro instead of the micro, and vice versa. In theory, this sounds like a daunting task requiring you to work much harder than you believe.

However, the world has come a long way from when conventional business methods were normalized. This means that the people in charge must also change how they do business. This is important because we live in a world of technology, data, artificial intelligence, remote work, and cloud computing. There are now ways for you to generate data, store it, interpret it, and use it to your advantage. There are ways to automate your processes to make it easier for work to be done for longer periods with close to no error. Good leadership will directly contribute to your business's growth, affecting customer satisfaction and other critical areas of operations.

Understandably, businesses might be wary of ways they aren't familiar with, but there is a way to improve. You do not jump into the deep end and hope things will work out. You plan, strategize, bring in the right people, and then change one phase at a time. This book targets business leaders, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and visionaries who want to know and learn the best that the business world can use. It is a manual of all modern leadership skills, practices, and tools. By reading it, you will learn how to effectively use these resources to build, grow, and expand your business to new heights.

Most importantly, you will learn the importance of effective leadership and the impact that it can have on the business. Suppose you wish to improve the way you lead, understand the impact of strong leadership, and add more value to your business, customers, and the team that makes everything run. In that case, this book will surely fit right into your plan. It has been written to be a source of knowledge and wisdom that everyone can benefit from. If you are a manager at a firm, CEO of an organization, founder of a startup, or simply someone who wants to learn about the world of business, be prepared to learn a lot about the world you operate in.

The Evolution of the Business World.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. John F. Kennedy

Globalization has imposed many challenges on communities around the globe. Every country has its problems to deal with. These problems arise due to several factors, including environmental challenges, geographical problems, and the socioeconomic status of different societies. Some parts of the world are rich in natural resources. They have strong exports to generate revenue for the people. On the other hand, many countries lack these geographical benefits, creating a demand to import resources from other countries. This variation of supply and demand creates space for businesses around the world.

It is crucial to understand that businesses opt for different strategies to enter the competitive market. Local enterprises choose a more straightforward approach to buying and selling commodities. Whereas stepping into the global market requires a different plan. Most multinational businesses faced many challenges in the early days of business expansion. Common challenges included language barriers, people's cultural preferences, and the country's economic status. The straightforward buy-sell plans do not work when businesses go into cross-border expansions.

Import and export are ideal examples to consider at this point. As one of the major gateways to entering into the global stream of businesses, the export business creates a flare of demand in the global market. The exchange of different commodities helps businesses set a footprint in other countries. For example, The United States is the largest importer in the world, with a total of $2.4 trillion worth of imports. The country imports many commodities from other countries around the globe. You may find clothes, food items, vehicles, chemicals, oil, and many other imports while living in the U.S. These imports provide the locals with valuable commodities and create awareness about the exporting country.

Japan is among the largest automobile exporters in the world, with $83.1 billion worth of vehicle exports. Japanese vehicles are everywhere. The whole world speaks the country's name regarding vehicle preferences. Looking at the top view of how imports and exports help countries expand their businesses across borders, we can see the direct implementation of the supply and demand rule. It is worth noting that although the United States manufactures its vehicles, the exclusive demand for Japanese cars among the locals keeps the import-export cycle in motion. Following the same trend, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the largest oil suppliers, with total crude petroleum exports of $95.7 billion. Many countries import oil from KSA. Although it is not the sole oil producer, it has strong export roots spread across the globe, creating a demand for its oil.

Global economic harmony comes from the smooth operation of imports and exports. Any disruption in the flow can create a global effect. When the COVID pandemic forced global markets into lockdown, many small and large businesses shut down. The ceased logistics operations stopped the circulation of commodities around the world. Macro and micro shipping channels choked, leading to delayed delivery of shipments. Moreover, increased shipping costs forced businesses to indefinitely cut down their workforce and operations. While some businesses recovered in the next couple of years, many shut their operations down for good.

Outsourcing is another business strategy relevant to the current global market. Global inflation has forced enterprises to opt for intelligent methods instead of using complex methods. Almost 54% of total businesses employ outsourced support teams to assist customers. If we talk about the U.S. alone, businesses outsource about 300,000 jobs annually to the international market. Nowadays, businesses rely more on outsourcing specific operations to save costs. Unlike decades back, the modern era has a saturated market for every industry. The competition between enterprises has never been this fierce before.

Any poor move can drop the reputation of a business to dust. The digital environment has forced organizations to rethink their business channels. Companies are analyzing their weaknesses to eliminate reputation challenges. If a company is good at manufacturing, it may not be the same in packaging. Similarly, an exporter may not have strong logistics channels. Microanalysis has helped companies improve their market reputation by outsourcing the weak areas of business operation to other companies. Outsourcing applies to domestic as well as foreign business contracts. You can expand its potential based on your needs. 

Offshoring is a slightly different concept. It is the process of relocating a business to another country. Many businesses opt for offshoring to cut costs and maximize production capacity. Sometimes, companies offshore a specific department or team to other countries. For example, the rising fuel costs may make it difficult for a company's support team to meet its expenses. To minimize the costs, the company may offshore its support operations to another country with lower fuel costs. Similarly, small companies can manage to offshore their accounting operations to other locations to save daily costs. Generally, most businesses opt for offshoring practices to slash their costs. Another vital strategy large businesses opt for is franchising. With more businesses expanding their presence across borders, it becomes difficult to micromanage operations. Businesses issue licenses to offshore teams for setting up a franchise. Franchising allows easy management of the workforce and operations. Enterprises can retain their global reputation by setting up local teams in different countries. Generally, when a company sets up franchises, the local team can access product knowledge, internal policies, and quality standards against an initial and annual fee. The franchise owners are responsible for maintaining the company's standards in the local setting. Failing to comply with the company's policies can result in the termination of the contract. Some common examples of franchising businesses include McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, and Starbucks.

Businesses expand to the global market and discover new opportunities to benefit from. Sometimes, the opportunity is too big for a single enterprise to work on. In such cases, companies opt for a joint venture. Bigger opportunities often have the potential to engage more than one business. A joint venture refers to a child company formed due to the collaborative efforts of two or more businesses. Establishing a new company allows businesses to take on capital-intensive opportunities in the global market. Generally, joint venture companies work on specific types of projects. The parent companies define their collaborative policies to establish a proper system. The partners in a joint venture typically have equal investments in terms of capital, resources, and workforce. Businesses stepping into the foreign market often collaborate with a foreign company to cash the opportunity. Working on a joint project with a foreign company allows local businesses to understand foreign market trends. Two or more companies operating under a joint contract may define their potential service areas to establish a growth-driven business strategy. For example, the company may provide expertise in foreign market insights, resource hunting, and managing operations. On the other hand, the home company may provide production materials and equipment to carry out manufacturing processes. A downside of joint ventures is lesser flexibility and higher risk. Such projects require a greater commitment, a long-term strategy, and clearly defined contract clauses. 

An equally effective way that many businesses opt for while stepping into the global market is forming strategic alliances. Unlike joint ventures, strategic alliances form between two or more enterprises located in different countries without establishing a child company. In this case, companies target much bigger goals to accomplish. Strategic alliances enable corporations to collaborate on different opportunities while working under their name. Corporate alliances in the global market are generally short-lived ventures. Enterprises have geographical and socioeconomic limitations. They are more likely to be affected, like the COVID pandemic in unprecedented times. Slowed down import and export operations can put strategic alliances a risk. Another downside of such collaborations is