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Leadership Style Of Warren Buffet Essay

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Leadership Style Warren Buffet is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway (http://www.berkshirehathaway.com), a holding company for several businesses (Berkshire Hathaway, n.d.). Fortune Editors (2014) named Warren Buffett number four on The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2014) list for his leadership techniques with his 300,000 employees. Buffett is also a proponent for philanthropy and earmarks Berkshire Hathaway shares to distribute to several foundations annually (Berkshire Hathaway Inc., n.d.). In 2014, Buffett led his followers with a hands-off style empowering his managers to act as owners (Fortune Editors, 2014). However, Buffett did not begin his career with a hands-off style; his leadership techniques evolved as he became a seasoned CEO. Over time, Buffett shifts from a unilateral power to a mutual power (Kelly, 2013). Unilateral Power Kelly (2013) segments Buffett’s leadership transition into seven stages: opportunist, diplomat, expert, achiever, individualist, strategist, and alchemist. During the first four stages, Buffett concerned himself with growing his investment and not on the impact of the organization’s reputation, employees’ welfare, or community and is why this category is unilateral power (Kelly, 2013). In the early 1960’s, his transactional leadership style tarnished his reputation following the sale of Dempster Mill (Kelly, 2013). Dempster Mill Dempster Mill was a farm equipment manufacturing company Buffett took control of

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