Conrad Hilton's Leadership Styles & Traits

Hilton is a transformational leader who provide stimulation and individual examination. His key traits were determination, visionary, risk taker, tenaciousness, dedication, energetic, caring, conscientiousness, motivation, persistent, and ambitious.

Conrad's business faced troubles at first, incurring losses and running into debt. But with determination, he trusted on his ability, started over again and bought his first hotel outside Texas in San Francisco. He then set a goal to build a hotel every year.

Hilton's management style is that he believes that anyone in the organization can be a manager one day, therefore he employs the laissez-faire management style. He hired capable managers and allowed them to make important decisions regarding hotel policies. He also encourages and supports his staff to achieve the goals of the hotel, which is to give excellent service for the guests staying in the hotel. He is a people-oriented leader, who would personally ask his employees for their opinions about their work and the company. This lets his people know that they are actually valued, appreciated, and not unseen.

His way of treating people fairly inspired others to follow suit, as they knew what kind of leader he was. Hilton also empowered them to make the right decision for the hotel.

In regards to visionary and conscientiousness, he used good quality building materials that didn’t require repair and maintenance, so as to build a good quality building and save a lot of future expenses on maintenance.

Conrad Hilton was an innovator, first applying practices now used industry-wide in hotel management. For example, he was one of the first hoteliers to use an inter-hotel reservation system and set the standard for the mass-purchase of soap, matches and all hotel room items.

Ho Kwon Ping's Leadership Styles & Traits

What's his leadership's style?

Ho Kwon Ping (K.P) is a democratic leader as he adopt an inclusive management style which means his employees are involved in decision making process, but he still holds the final decision. This style allows mutual benefits. The following shows why he fits in this leadership style:

• He focuses on building commitment and generating new ideas
• He invites employees to develop directions for themselves and the company. There are usually many meetings to listen to employees’ views. 
• He also strive a balance between a micro - or macro- manager. At some area, he will supervise closely and drill down to details. While at some time, he will provide broad guidance and vision, like a mix between a general, a guru and a cheerleader.
• "This started as a family business, but if it’s going to continue beyond us, it has to be a culture where our closest associates from the lowest to the highest feel a sense of ownership of Banyan Tree. Family is whoever is trusted to be part of the decision-making process. The business has to be led to grow in its own right," said Mr Ho.

Similar to Tony Fernandes, K.P. also fit the style of an transformational leader. He has the ability to align his employees and systems with his vision. As an effective transformational leader:

• He pay attention to the concerns and developmental needs of his staff members
• He then help them to look at problems in new ways.
• For instance, K.P. said about his employees in developing countries, "When I interact with them, I realize they have fears and aspirations, daily concerns, work stress and concerns about livelihoods. The way I can be a leader to them is to transform such concerns into a vision for the company they work for , so they come to work with interest in their hearts rather than just doing their job to get by."

What are his traits?

Resilience - Many consultants he hired does not agree with his originality and quit. He went ahead with his concept and successful Banyan Tree was born. He mentioned that if Banyan Tree were to fail, he will start over again and always be open to new ideas.

Supportive - He treats all his staff members like family, thus calling it a family business. He show his support by dealing with their concerns and provide them guidance.

Innovative - He always look at problems in a different perspectives compared to others. This is how he get innovative. For example, although a resort is not considered beach resort without a beach front, he did not give up and innovate to remove the focus away from not having a beach front by creating his resort into 100% pool villa concept with tropical garden.

Ho Kwon Ping innovate the 100% pool villa  

Fernandes's Leadership Styles and Traits

 What’s his leadership style?

Fernandes is a blend of both charismatic and people-oriented leader.

Tony and the Allstars at his birthday

Being a charismatic leader, the airline chief leads his team of “Allstars” by infusing positive energy and eagerness in them. 

• Evidently, before his interview with entrepreneur site Wamda.com, Fernandes was seen walking around his company greeting and joking with anyone that passed him. 
• He constantly carries a vibe full of passion and charisma such that he can “infect” his team members and have them carry the same attitude to their fellow colleagues and eventually the customers.
• Whenever he is stopped by clients at the passenger terminal, he will be more than happy to carry their bags, chat with them and even walk them to the plane. Who else can be a better role model in executing excellent customer service to his own employees?

Fernandes says that to him “employees come number one, customers come number two. If you have a happy workforce, they’ll look after your customers anyway.” This earned him the title of a people-oriented leader. Such simple formula but often overlook by managers and bosses who are too task- or profit-focused. 

• Believing that hierarchy does not work in his company, Fernandes has his office right smack in the middle of the company, with no walls and doors.
• He mentioned that “everybody has my contact number so people from errand boys to the senior management will just call, SMS, and email me directly, and they get problems solved very quickly. You do not need to go through layers of bureaucracy.” 
• This breaks down barriers between him and his team members where everyone can see him and approach him anytime. He is the manager, but he is also part of the team. 
• This one-of-a-kind corporate culture is the reason this company is so successful with low turnover rates.

With all being said, Fernandes is definitely also a transformational leader from the four leadership theories. He communicates a vision: “Dream the impossible, believe the unbelievable, and never take no for an answer” which inspires and motivates people to achieve something extraordinary.  As an effective transformational leader, he has the ability to align people and systems with his vision.

Tony Fernandes

What are his traits?
The corporate culture Fernandes created reflects his personality.

Focus – He knows where he is going and has a strong stated mission to lead people on. He puts the turnaround of the airline down to ‘culture, focus and discipline’.

Supportive – He gave encouragement and genuine support to his crews who are passionate to pursue their dreams. One great example is when one of his cabin crew became his pilot.

Passionate – Passionate about his company, his employees and the culture he creates

Collaborative – He so solicit input and feedback from his team members so that they feel being part of the process.

Howard Schultz: Quotes Showing Leadership Styles & Personality

In a 2009 interview with CBS, Schultz said of Starbucks' mission, "We're not in the business of filling bellies, we're in the business of filling souls."

(On inculcating culture)

“Whether you are the CEO or a lower level employee, the single most important thing you do at work each day is communicate your values to others”.

(creating the Starbucks culture)

“There is a word that comes to my mind when I think about our company and our people. That word is ‘love’. I love Starbucks because everything we’ve tried to do is steeped in humanity”

(actively and purposely creating a brand and company narrative that he felt would attract customers)

“We take something ordinary and infuse it with emotion and meaning, and then we tell its story over and over and over again, often without saying a word”

(Early on, making Starbucks' mission his own.)

"I saw something. Not only the romance of coffee, but ... a sense of community. And the connection that people had to coffee—the place and one another. And after a week in Italy, I was so convinced with such unbridled enthusiasm that I couldn't wait to get back to Seattle to talk about the fact that I had seen the future."

The above quotes by Schultz all point towards him having loads of enthusiasm, as well as a charismatic leadership style, where he infuses eagerness into all his employees to work. This might also be used as a Power tactic of inspirational appeal, bring up employees' commitment through stirring enthusiasm. He also emphasises the importance of having consistent behaviour with company values and culture.
 

(describing the feeling of “the Starbucks Experience ")

“the Starbucks Experience [based on] personal connection – is an affordable necessity. We are all hungry for community". The importance is built around connecting with others and reconnecting with oneself

Here, Schultz displays a people-oriented side of him, and believing in the importance of developing esprit de corps.

(In response to a shareholder complained that Starbucks had lost sales due its support for gay marriage)

"Not every decision is an economic decision. Despite the fact that you recite statistics that are narrow in time, we did provide a 38 percent shareholder return over the last year. I don't know how many things you invest in, but I would suspect not many things, companies, products, investments have returned 38 percent over the last 12 months.

Having said that, it is not an economic decision to me. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people. We employ over 200,000 people in this company, and we want to embrace diversity. Of all kinds."

"If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it's a free country. You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much."

This shows him in action taking the managerial role of a negotiator, disturbance handler, and resolving conflicts. He is firm and bold in taking a stand against the shareholder, showing that he is very deeply rooted in his beliefs. though it may displease the shareholder, all his employees will respect him for standing up for the company.


Not only are there quotes from Schultz that reveal aspects about himself, there are also quotes from others who worked with him, such as co-founder Zev Siegl. He recounts:

"My impression of Howard at that time was that he was a fabulous communicator. One to one, he still is."
Being a good communicator is an important trait for any leader in leading people.