Introduction
In every organization, the satisfaction of both employees and customers towards a firm’s products and services is always paramount. For instance, it is less probable for people to converse about customer service and the gratification of workers without citing Amazon as an example. The firm is one of the largest customer-oriented online shops based in the U.S. and was founded by Jeff Bezos, who has led the corporation for several years now.
While the majority praises Amazon for its growth over the years, they often forget the resonant leadership contributions established by Bezos. As such, the development of Amazon is inspired by great leaders with a vision to succeed and innovate. In this case, Jeff Bezos indicates the characteristics of a resonant leader by creating consistent, positive relationships and emotions (Deka, 2021). The current study is based on theories of leadership and culture in an organization by examining the degree to which Jeff Bezos’s resonant leadership style is transformational and how it has affected successful organizational culture.
Situations of Jeff Bezos’s Leadership
Many long-standing print media companies have recently faced crisis-like situations because of the emergence of digital news. Unprecedented financial situations have shown a need for change that embraces the use of digital news. However, because of the inability to accommodate because of path dependence, The Washington Post acquired the leadership of Jeff Bezos in 2013 to address the implication of such organizational culture change. According to Burfeind (2019), Jeff Bezos was successful in staging the company from financial perils by setting a robust and inspiring vision that focused on digital enactment, thus changing the workplace configuration and enticement systems. Furthermore, Bezos hired more employees who are technical experts to foster digital research. Accordingly, the balance was only possible when Bezos introduced new values yet kept the traditional standards, thus reducing the possibility of employee pressure during the change cycle.
Inspirational Leadership
In many cases, resonant leaders often show an inspirational style of management in an organization. For example, Bezos has indicated great determination through love and desire for his corporation to succeed. Bezos’ non-stop supporting behavior, enthusiasm to alter the way people shop, and his aspiration to be the best all stemmed from inspirational leadership. For instance, to inspire others, Amazon, through the leadership of Bezos, uses a desk symbol to recognize employees who establish cost-saving ideas for the company. In this case, Bezos deliver a signed miniature desk known as a Door Desk Award to the best employees as an inspiration to others (Anderson, 2018). Therefore, an inspirational leader creates an environment that instructs and modifies the world without boosting personal ego, as indicated by Bezos.
Creation of Overall Positive Emotional Tone Characterized by Hope
Bezos’s leadership is pegged on his ability to create a general organizational emotional tone through his speeches and action, which are marketed with optimism for the future of the company. Precisely, Bezos has principally inculcated a culture where all the employees believe that Amazon is still in its first day of operation by emotionally creating a tone where the employees are made to think as the owners. In one of his messages to the employees, Bezos is quoted saying, “…If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall, and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve” (McKinnon, 2019, para. 7). From this quote, emotion is created which acts to give hope to the employees of never to give up no matter the circumstance.
Being In Touch and Connecting to People’s Hearts and Minds
Before the COVID-19 was announced as a pandemic, Bezos was already thinking about how the disease could negatively impact the economy and Amazon in general. As such, when a crisis loomed in Amazon concerning the employees’ demand for efficient COVID-19 personal protection equipment (PPI) and the initiation of social distancing, there was a great need for action by the managers.
Consequently, Bezos ordered a significant process change by procuring PPIs for its employees and upgrading the cleaning of facilities (Bariso, 2020). Furthermore, Bezos increased the wages of its per-hourly employees and invested more money in the development of Amazon’s COVID-19 testing capabilities (Bariso, 2020). Through these actions, Amazon, through the leadership of Bezos, showed that they are in touch with its employees and connected through their hearts and minds during the pandemic period.
Demonstration of Compassion
Compassionate leaders seek encouragement, hope, and influence, rather than authority and demands. For instance, Bezos’s resonant leadership is full of compassion through guiding, acknowledging, and supporting its employees to combine their efforts and skills for the greater good of the company. According to Cotton (2021), compassion is the behavioral feature of an individual to possess positive intentions and actual concerns for others. From a compassionate leadership perspective, Bezos establishes the command of supporting the efforts and resolves of people around a clear future-focused direction through his “long-term thinking” and “customer obsession rather than competitor focus” (Cotton, 2021). Therefore, the power to impact behavioral changes in an organization through the act of compassion triggers greater business performance.
Why Jeff Bezos is Successful
The success of Bezos can be measured by examining the growth of Amazon. Using the company as a typical example, Bezos revolutionized how people purchase online products using technology. The CEO encouraged a secondary revolution in the practice of e-books within Amazon that came to be known as Amazon Kindle. In this case, being a task-oriented leader, such as Bezos’ entrepreneurial skills as unique leadership qualities, critical thinking skills, obsession with customers, and passion for innovation, have contributed to turning Amazon into a billion-dollar retail business.
How Jeff Bezos’s Behaviors Impacted His Followers and Organization
Bezos’ leadership behavior has impacted a culture change in Amazon. To influence followers and organizational culture, leaders direct through motivation and being role models to both the employees and the customers. Bezos’ leadership behaviors of providing constant encouragement and motivation towards achieving the organizational goals without actually being too close to workers are among the behavioral skills the leader has. In essence, it could be regarded as a transformational behavior of the CEO as encouraging, and reassuring are elements of a resonant leader, where the dream of the corporation is transferred and interconnected among workers where they are challenged with high standards to improve their abilities for organizational success.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bezos can be recognized as a resonant leader with both transformational and task-driven behaviors who uses inspiration, and an emotional, motivational tone to characterize hope and vision to his employees. As shown, being a resonant leader has made him cultivate positive performance among the employees, which is directed to overall customer satisfaction. Moreover, Bezos’s ethical principle of leadership, where the workers are made to believe they are the owners of the company, has created a culture of continuous success and growth. The culture has also benefited its staff, especially those who are keen to lead in their careers as future resonant leaders.
References
Anderson, J. (2018). 6 Powerful Traits of the Humble Leader. LinkedIn. Web.
Burfeind, J. (2019). Leading Cultural Change in the Newspaper Industry: How Jeff Bezos saved The Washington Post. Manager Journal, 29(1), 125-138. Web.
McKinnon, T. (2019). 15 of the top quotes from Jeff Bezos about business. Indigo 9 Digital. Web.
Bariso, J (2020). A 4-Word Lesson in Emotional Intelligence From Jeff Bezos. Inc. Web.
Deka, R.R. (2021). Why is resonant leadership important?. Vantagecircle. Web.
Cotton, B. (2021). The leadership style and legacy of Jeff Bezos. Business Leader. Web.