CH/PS I think you made a really good point that Howard lacks political aspects-especially for presidency. I have no heard his speeches quite yet (since I tend to stray away from politics altogether because people are so aggressive), do you think he is a great leader-type and is he charismatic at all? Great leaders, especially for presidency, should be honest, charismatic, and not only cater to the audience's needs but to the entire country's needs without sugar coating things.  Also, I am not sure what you mean by "In order to improve his leadership style, Jeff should change his model of carrying out business activities. This is because it can be copied and imitated by other companies (Mauri, 2016)".- how can it be imitted by other companies? In what way?  Do you think Jeff Bezos is a bad leader? and why?  CH/AR I found your comparison of Howard Schultz and Jeff Bezos interesting and compelling.  When I was looking at the list of leaders to select from, it was staggering to me how many of the corporate leaders have run or are planning to run for political office.  I'm not sure, given our current political environment, that running a large corporation is the right background and experience for the leader of the United States.  We'll see what happens in the next year and a half! Amazon is an amazing, transformative company to watch.  I work in the financial services industry and one of our leaders recently described our competition not as other financial services firms but as Amazon.  Financial services firms pretty much all offer the same products and services and at a very reasonable price point.  Amazon, however, has excelled in service delivery.  I would imagine that at sometime in the future, Amazon will partner with a financial service firm to deliver products and services.  I'll admit that I was and still am skeptical about Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, but Bezos seems to be up for trying just about anything. In your analysis of the two leaders, you didn't mention directly the challenges faced by either the leaders or the organization.  Last year, Starbucks was all over the news regarding the incident involving two African American gentlemen and how they were treated by a manger at Starbucks.  I'm curious how you or others in the class through about how Schultz led the organization through that crisis.  Bezos, as well, has not been immune to controversy with his recent affair and divorce becoming public.  How do the personal lives and behaviors of leader impact the organizations they lead?  Should it matter? SO The first leader I chose to research is Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. Sundar began to show in interest in technology at an early age, and eventually earned a degree in Metallurgy, and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He then began working at Google in 2004 as the head of product management and development (Shepherd). From there, he assisted in the development of many different departme.

1. CH/PS
I think you made a really good point that Howard lacks political
aspects-especially for presidency. I have no heard his speeches
quite yet (since I tend to stray away from politics altogether
because people are so aggressive), do you think he is a great
leader-type and is he charismatic at all? Great leaders,
especially for presidency, should be honest, charismatic, and
not only cater to the audience's needs but to the entire country's
needs without sugar coating things.
Also, I am not sure what you mean by "In order to improve his
leadership style, Jeff should change his model of carrying out
business activities. This is because it can be copied and imitated
by other companies (Mauri, 2016)".- how can it be imitted by
other companies? In what way?
Do you think Jeff Bezos is a bad leader? and why?
CH/AR
I found your comparison of Howard Schultz and Jeff Bezos
interesting and compelling. When I was looking at the list of
leaders to select from, it was staggering to me how many of the
corporate leaders have run or are planning to run for political
office. I'm not sure, given our current political environment,
that running a large corporation is the right background and
experience for the leader of the United States. We'll see what
happens in the next year and a half!
Amazon is an amazing, transformative company to watch. I
work in the financial services industry and one of our leaders
recently described our competition not as other financial
services firms but as Amazon. Financial services firms pretty
much all offer the same products and services and at a very
reasonable price point. Amazon, however, has excelled in
service delivery. I would imagine that at sometime in the
future, Amazon will partner with a financial service firm to
deliver products and services. I'll admit that I was and still am

2. skeptical about Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, but Bezos
seems to be up for trying just about anything.
In your analysis of the two leaders, you didn't mention directly
the challenges faced by either the leaders or the organization.
Last year, Starbucks was all over the news regarding the
incident involving two African American gentlemen and how
they were treated by a manger at Starbucks. I'm curious how
you or others in the class through about how Schultz led the
organization through that crisis. Bezos, as well, has not been
immune to controversy with his recent affair and divorce
becoming public. How do the personal lives and behaviors of
leader impact the organizations they lead? Should it matter?
SO
The first leader I chose to research is Sundar Pichai, the CEO of
Google. Sundar began to show in interest in technology at an
early age, and eventually earned a degree in Metallurgy, and an
M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania. He then began working at Google in 2004 as the
head of product management and development (Shepherd). From
there, he assisted in the development of many different
departments of Google, including the creation of Google
Chrome. Throughout his experience at Google, both Twitter and
Microsoft both sparked an interest in him, however he was
given financial incentives to stay a part of Googles team.
Eventually, in 2015, he was named the newest CEO of Google.
The second leader I chose to research is Jeff Bezos, founder and
CEO of Amazon.com. Bezos started off with an early interest in
computers, and studied electrical engineering at Princeton
University (biography.com). He then went on to work on Wall
Street after graduation, until he decided to quit his job to open
Amazon.com. Bezos began his business by developing software
out of his garage. From there, Bezos and his team expanded
operation into a two-bedroom house, until they eventually
developed a test site. After testing the site with 300 friends,

3. Amazon.com was opened in 1995, and started out with meteoric
success.
After considering all the different leadership theories, I feel
Sundar Pichai best fits the Great Man Theory. The Great Man
Theory is described as “a single “Great Man” who put
everything together and influenced others to follow along based
on the strength of inherited traits, qualities, and abilities” (Daft,
Richard L. and Patricia G. Lane). That being said, I feel this
theory aligns with Sundar’s leadership style, because he leads
by following what leaders before him did. Sundar was given this
position at Google, after working there for eleven years and
witnessing what leaders before him did that helped make the
company successful. In addition, according to Paul Towers,
“Sundar knows that Google can’t rely on what worked last year”
and that “he has retained his humble approach and commitment
to ongoing learning and development” (Towers). This being
said, it is evident that Sundar understands that he needs to use
some of what he has learned from past leaders and apply it to
current situations in order to keep the company as successful as
it has become.
While considering the different trait theories, I feel the theory
that best describes Jeff Bezos would be the Trait Theory. The
Trait Theory is described as researches looking “to see if
leaders had particular traits or characteristics, such as
intelligence or energy, that distinguished them from nonleaders
and contributed to success” (Daft, Richard L. and Patricia G.
Lane). This theory best describes Bezos’ success story, because
he started his company from the ground up and built his way to
success. He was not given any sort of base to build the business
upon. Instead, he had to work with what he knew to make his
business successful. According to Bezos, “Entrepreneurs must
be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time”
(Towers). This quote resonated with me because it shows that
while he wasn’t following in anyone’s footsteps, he knew that
one day his hard work and intelligence would pay off.
After considering the different quadrants of the Leadership

4. Grid, I feel that both Bezos and Pichai would fall in the Team
category, rating (9,9). I feel this way because they both take a
very big regard for how their employees and customers are
feeling and reacting to any changes, while working hard to get
the job done.
One way that I feel Sundar Pichai may be lacking is he didn’t
have as much of a hardship getting to where he is today, and
therefore I worry he will not appreciate his success as much. By
having to build a business from the ground up, the founder feels
a much bigger sense of accomplishment and therefore will
continue to work just as hard if not harder to keep the business
going strong. While Sundar did work hard for this position, I
feel he will not have as much drive to see the business continue
to thrive as other CEO’s might.
One aspect of Jeff Bezos’s career that I feel may be lacking is
his lack of assistance. While Bezos has many people working
under him to help keep the operations of the company work
smoothly, I feel eventually Bezos will find that he doesn’t have
a “right-hand man” to assist in the big company decisions. This
may end up being a downfall for him because if he ever decides
to retire, he will have a difficult time finding someone to fill his
shoes.
After researching each of these leaders and considering their
leadership traits, I feel the person who I would want to be a
“follower” to would be Jeff Bezos. Overall, I think the fact that
he took a chance on a business idea and made it into a multi-
billion dollar company is unbelievably inspiring, and I would
love to be a part of a company that he began out of a garage.
AK
The two leaders discussed in this week’s discussion post are
Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, and Richard Branson, Virgin
Group’s founder. Both men are very successful business leaders,
and their management styles prove to be valuable to their
organizations. Pichai has more than 15 years of experience in
developing high-tech products for consumers (Bloomberg,

5. 2019). In 2015, Pichai became Google’s CEO after being the
company’s product chief. Richard Branson was a school
dropout. However, as a teenager, he pioneered a successful
business venture with Student magazine (Tikkanen, 2019). After
decades of successful endeavors with various companies,
Branson became the sixth richest citizen of the United Kingdom
according to the 2012 Forbes list of billionaires (Schawbel,
2014).
These two leaders have vastly different leadership styles. Shana
Lebowitz discusses Sundar Pichai’s leadership style as being
“boring” (2016). However, according to Business Insider, being
boring is more about being emotionally mature which means an
individual is agreeable, emotionally stable and conscientious
(2016). These characteristics are important in leadership
because leaders must make rational decisions. Based on
research and readings from the book, The Leadership
Experience, Sundar Pichai’s leadership style embodies the trait
theory. Richard Draft describes the trait theory as being able to
identify, predict and even train leaders (2017). Sundar Pichai is
a great leader who exudes intelligence and the energy to move
Google forward. Regarding the leadership grid, analyzed by
Blake and Mouton, Pichai is considered a team leader because
his effectiveness is largely due to his devotion towards an
individual’s achievement (Lebowitz, 2016). One characteristic
Sundar Pichai may want to improve on is his charisma.
Although Pichai does not enjoy being in the spotlight, people
tend to follow leaders who display confidence.
Richard Branson’s leadership style is more organic. Branson
does not study the competition and describes his leadership as
being “[a] rule-breaker” (Schawbel, 2014).). Although this is
not completely a negative characteristic, reckless decisions are
more likely to be made with a leader like Branson. After
studying the different leadership theories in The Leadership
Experience, Branson’s style most accurately fits the influence
theory. The influence theory focuses on charismatic leadership
(Draft, 2017). Branson focuses on inspiring people rather than

6. being innovative and challenging the competition. According
the Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid, Branson’s leadership
style represents a team leader, just like Sundar Pichai. Branson
may be more charismatic yet unpredictable, however, he leads
his organization very well and focuses on results and people
(Make A Dent Leadership, 2018). Richard Branson should pull
back on his “rule-breaking” nature and study other leaders.
Improving his professionalism may be very beneficial with
future ventures.
Sundar Pichai and Richard Branson are both very successful
leaders. Pichai tends to be predictable, but that is a common
trait of effective leaders. Branson is a visionary; however, his
rule-breaking views may direct him into bad decision making.
Out of the two leaders, I would prefer to work for Sundar
Pichai. I believe he he’s people oriented and enjoys other
people’s achievements. Pichai is a very stable leader who is less
likely to make decisions that would be destructive to an
organization.
DM
The two leaders I chose are Sundar Pichai from Google and
Elon Musk from Tesla. I believe that Sundar Pichai displays
great leadership qualities, while Elon Musk displays some traits
of bad leadership.
Sundar Pichai was previously Google’s product chief, before
becoming CEO in 2015. Pichai led project management for
Google Chrome and Chrome OS which is Google’s web
browser. Following the development of these browsers, he
oversaw development of applications such as Gmail, Google
maps, and eventually Android. I believe that Pichai displays
the great man leadership theory. Pichai believes that your work
as a leader is to make sure the ones around you succeed. Pichai
does not believe in confrontation and preaches cooperation.
Pichai would fall into the category of Team leader on the
Leadership Grid. This is because, Pichai is all about people and
making sure that they become that they become the best worker

7. they can be, before themselves. I think the one thing that Pichai
can do to become a more effective leader is to deal with conflict
more. Conflicts will always arise within a business and
between employees. Dealing with conflict and then finding
solutions to deal with the conflict is a part of great leadership.
Elon Musk founded X.com which would later become PayPal in
1999 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk studied in Pennsylvania
in which he would obtain degrees in economics and physics.
Musk would pursue a PHD in physics during the internet boom,
but would later drop out and launch his first company instead in
which he sold $307 million. Musk is a great inventor and
businessman, however his leadership skills can be lacking.
Musk can be known to say some controversial stuff and it
ultimately led to him getting in trouble with the SEC. I believe
that Musk would fall into the Authoritarian on the leadership
grid. Musk is very detailed oriented and has great vision, but
can improve with his emotions and the relations with his
employees. I think if Musk was more like Pichai and was all
about putting workers first the company would be in a better
place among its investors. I also believe that his antics don’t
help with his employees’ morale and can better be served being
more reserved and not always speaking his mind.
I would prefer to work for Sundar Pichai at Google than for
Elon Musk. I think that Pichai shows a greater sense of
leadership and displays the types of traits that I would like to be
a part of. Elon Musk can sometimes go off script, as we have
seen play out in the news. I like someone that has a consistent
message and will do all they can to make sure everyone is on
the same page.

8. Chapter Twelve
Part one:
1. State the six stereotypes associated with older workers. How
can these stereotypes impact
their workplace experiences?
2. What does the text say about the issues that come from
generational differences?
3. Are weight and appearance protected classes under the ADA?
How are people excluded
in the workplace because of weight and appearance, is this
justifiable?
4. Who does the ADA protect? What does it mean that they are
qualified to perform the
essential functions of the job? If they cannot, should the
employee be given a reasonable
accommodation, why or why not.
5. How can income and wealth inequality benefit some people
in the workforce through
opportunity and disadvantage others? How can this “play out”
in the workplace when it
comes to diversity and inclusion?
Part two:

9. After reading page 267-268, “Speaking about Disability”
(1) State the errors that were commonly described in the
scenario and why they were wrong.
(2) Provide three takeaways from reading this information.
After reading page 274, “Mind the Gap”
(1) Summarize how this works toward the benefit of diversity
and inclusion
(2) State what group element is it helping (race, gender, class,
ability, etc.) and why you
choose this one.
Part three:
Go to and watch The Race, (please disregard the religious
message at the end if this violates your
beliefs—you only need the content prior to the end) now answer
the following questions:
1. What are the privileges/opportunities that some of the people
in the race had and others
did not?
2. How does these privileges or these head starts impact a
person’s success level?
3. We previously learned about meritocracy, does this illustrate
that success is not just about

10. how hard someone works?
4. Go to: Privilege Guilt and summarize what the article says
about how to handle privilege
guilt?
5. How does identity privileges (that come from age, ability,
socioeconomic status/class,
religion, weight and appearance) impact workplace success and
inclusion?
6. Apply the statement: “you can not fix what you do not
acknowledge” to this exercise.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+kids+starting+the
+race+but+fall+behind+because+of+race&view=detail&mid=C4
0DBE182C3B2A27F63DC40DBE182C3B2A27F63D&FORM=V
IRE
https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/03/moving-past-privilege-
guilt/