Analyzing Leadership: Daniel Schulman, CEO Of PayPal - An Essay.

The assessment task requires you to analyse your own leadership ability and to profile yourself against a business leader you are inspired by (Ensure you choose a business leader who has initiated and led change initiatives).  This report will include a self-exploratory element as well as research well known leader, preferably international business leader or well-known local business leader that you are motivated by and look to as a role-model.

You will be required to conduct research on various business leaders and identify a leader that you are inspired by and look up to as a role model. (Ensure that this leader has initiated and led change initiatives)

Background on Leadership and Trait Theory

Analyze leadership strategies

According to Yukl (2013), leadership has been a topic of discussion over the years and it has been interpreted by several ways. While one school of thought considers leadership as the group efforts of some people, another school of thought considers leadership as a single person’s ability that lead a company towards success. On the other hand, some are also of the opinion that leadership is nothing but transforming an individual’s vision into reality. Bolman and Deal (2017) states that even though there are several interpretations of the notion of leadership, the three main aspects remain intact, that are purpose, person and people. For example, with a purpose a leader influences his subordinates to progress towards the success. There are several other strategies of leadership. However, Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2013) is of the opinion that most of the leaders give attention on the two main aspects, motivation and communication.

The CEO of PayPal, Daniel Schulman is considered to be a successful American business executive and is presently the Chief Executive Officer of PayPal, which secured its place among companies listed on Fortune 500 (Fortune.com, 2018). Before taking charge as the Chief Executive Officer of PayPal, Schulman has served as executive of AT&T, the American Express and the Priceline (Businessinsider.in, 2018). His life has been influenced by the ideologies of his father. Several massive partnerships as well as acquisitions have been overseen by Schulman while he successfully managed the spin out of the company from eBay. In addition, his name is considered as the most influential leaders all over the globe since he took major initiative in order to launch Virgin Mobile along with Richard Branson. During interviews over media, Schulman said that he learnt a lot of lessons from his life and his practices of martial art (Bizjournals.com, 2018).

The business career of Schulman started with AT&T, where he served his employment over than 18 years and made a difference as a youngest member of the senior level of executive team of the company (Gelles, 2018). Initially the COO and then as the CEO of Priceline.com, Schulman paved the way for huge growth of the company, AT&T. Under his leadership, the annual revenue of AT&T grew from $20million to $1 billion within just two years. After leaving AT&T, Schulman joined Virgin Mobile taking the charge as Chief Executive Officer (News.com.au, 2018). He led the mobile company from the very launching to its transforming into a public company. During his leadership, the company secured its position within the top five wireless carriers of the nation with customer base of 5 million and around $1.3 billion annual sales (Gelles, 2018). Until he joined as the CEO American Express, Schulman served his employment with Sprint’ prepaid group taking the charge of the president position. In the year of 2014, Schulman was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of PayPal as a separate legal firm from eBay (News.com.au, 2018). From his wide business career, it can be seen that Schulman had a clear vision which he skillfully transformed into reality.

Personal and Professional Profile of Daniel Schulman

It can be seen from the career of Schulman that he was full of courage and true visionary traits. Till the present age he practices martial art namely Krav Maga,which is practiced as the self-defensive martial art. Throughout his whole career, he never raised his voice rather he let his hard work to speak. I am inspired by his determination to work hard leading the companies towards the extreme growth. His commitment towards his job role in spite of ups and downs, is truly inspiring, rather it can be said that worth to be followed. On the other hand, Schulman did never forget the lessons and ideologies taught by his father. As he said, even when he was at the peak of his career, he strictly followed the ideologies of his father in his professional practices. This gave me insights that the key factor of success as a leader is valuing the lessons learnt at the early. He remained down to earth instead of being arrogant of being as a constant leader. The other factor of Schulman inspired me to a greater extent is that he prefers being calm than being arrogant and rude. He let his success to speak in favor of him for which he never required to brag about himself to the world.

It is evident from the professional life of Schulman that he was brimming with bravery and genuine visionary attributes. Throughout the entire course of his entire vocation, he never raised his voice rather he let his hard work to talk. I am encouraged by his assurance to buckle down driving the organizations towards the extraordinary development. His dedication towards his activity job regardless of high points and low points, is really motivating, rather it tends to be said that value to be pursued. Then again, Schulman did always remember the exercises and philosophies instructed by his father. As he stated, notwithstanding when he was at the pinnacle of his vocation, he entirely pursued the philosophies of his father in his expert practices. This gave me lessons that the key factor of progress as a leader is esteeming the exercises learnt at the early. He stayed sensible as opposed to being egotistical for being as a steady successful business executive. The other factor of Schulman encouraged me to a greater extent is that he preferred being quiet than being outspoken and discourteous. He let his excellence to speak for him for which he never required to gloat about himself to the world.

Visionary Traits of Schulman

Source: (News.com.au, 2018; Gelles, 2018; Bizjournals.com, 2018; Businessinsider.in, 2018; Fortune.com, 2018)

Traits/attributes

While some people born with some traits of leadership, others obtain them in the course of life. However, Chemers (2014) states very few can obtain leadership traits since it remains deeply seated into a person’s personality. In the meantime, attributes refers to the behavioral attributes which can be obtained by external influences. Thus, the difference between traits and attributes is that people are born with traits whereas attributes can be learnt.

According to Dinh et al., (2014), trait theory owes to the great man theory for its strong base. However, the trait theory is way more systematic than great man theory while analyzing the traits of leaders. On the other hand there is also similarity between the two theories since trait theory and great man theory refers to notion that personal traits of individuals are the key success factor of leadership.

The model of trait theory is bases on the traits and characteristics evident in both the successful as well as unsuccessful leaders. Chemers (2014) further states the main purpose of trait theory is to predict the effectiveness of leadership qualities of a leader or aspirant leader. The traits listed above are compared with the traits of individuals who have potential within them in order to analyze the likelihood of their success as well as their failure. The traits are inclusive identification of demographics, psychographics, personality, intellectualism, social characteristics, and confidence and so on.

The personality refers to the notion of the characteristic form of thought, emotion and behavior of an individual in addition with the psychological factors behind them (Hogan, 2017).

From the above analysis, it is seen that Schulman has the following personality traits which enable him to become a successful leader (Colbert, Barrick & Bradley, 2014).

• Schulman proved himself as the true idealist through the several business achievements.
• Even under most difficult circumstances, he remained calm and patient while taking the right decision.
• He always looks for better and effective ways towards assuring success.
• He is detailed oriented and focused on fulfilling his commitment towards his responsibilities.
• He is passionate in identifying different innovative ways which not only assures success but also builds a strong image of the company or organization he leads.
• He values every lesson that he learns from several events of his professional life and further applies them in real life.
• He remained successful as a successful leader consistently which denotes his extreme influencing power over the business events and over people.
• His ability to remain confident while managing crisis is another characteristics which elevates him to a successful leader.
• He believes in staying fit so that he can contribute to the organizational growth. This reflects Schulman as an ideal practical leader who takes every aspect into consideration in order to lead a company successfully.

According to Beck and Cowan (2014), in order to initiate a change, a successful leader requires four must essential qualities or traits and attributes including the knowing the organizational priorities, the key factors of change, valuing the subordinates and ability of remain patient (Belias & Koustelios, 2014). Hence, the above evaluation of Schulman’s as the leader reveals that Schulman has all the leadership qualities required in order to initiate change.

Organizational priorities: Schulman while serving his employment as the CEO he prioritized organizational requirement varying from one company to another. For example while he was in Virgin Mobile, he prioritized mobile phone industry and its requirement.

Determination and Career Trajectory

Key success factor of change: The major key success factor of changes is convincing its subordinates to take part in the change process. As mentioned above, Schulman has the ability of influencing people.

Valuing his subordinates and ability to remain patient: In order to implement a change Schulman values its employees while staying patient under different circumstances.

As per the analysis, it can be seen that Schulman follows the strategic leadership style with the below mentioned characteristics such as (Özer & T?naztepe, 2014):

• The ability of making connection between the growth opportunities and the business operations (Carter & Greer, 2013).
• The ability to take burden of the whole business operation and the related risks.
• The ability to take strategies assuring the growth of the company.
• Anticipation of future threats and taking suitable measures in order to address them.

Presently I am studying as the student of Brahmin Polytechnic. As per the assessment on emotional assessment, I have strong foundation for further development in the areas like social skills, empathy, motivation and self regulation. However, as per the analysis, I need to work more on self-analysis zone in order to increase my abilities of emotional intelligence. On the other hand, the ESTP suggest suggests I have potentials in order to become a successful leader like Schulman with qualities like flexibility, tolerance, pragmatic approach and practicality than theoretical approach. From the overall personality assessment result, it is evident that I have all the possibilities ingrained within me with high rate of leadership potential and high optimism. However, I would like to work more in order to improve and enhance the leadership qualities within me.

References

Beck, D. E., & Cowan, C. C. (2014). Spiral dynamics: Mastering values, leadership and change. John Wiley & Sons.

Belias, D., & Koustelios, A. (2014). The impact of leadership and change management strategy on organizational culture. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 10(7).

Bizjournals.com. (2018). Meet PayPal CEO-to-be Schulman: Homelessness exercise as a management tool. Retrieved from https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/09/30/who-the-heck-is-dan-schulman-paypals-new-ceo.html

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

Businessinsider.in (2018). The CEO of PayPal started his career making $14,000 a year - here's how he rose through the ranks and took 3 companies public. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.in/The-CEO-of-PayPal-started-his-career-making-14000-a-year-heres-how-he-rose-through-the-ranks-and-took-3-companies-public/articleshow/60089979.cms [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

Carter, S. M., & Greer, C. R. (2013). Strategic leadership: Values, styles, and organizational performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(4), 375-393.

Chemers, M. (2014). An integrative theory of leadership. Psychology Press.

Colbert, A. E., Barrick, M. R., & Bradley, B. H. (2014). Personality and leadership composition in top management teams: Implications for organizational effectiveness. Personnel Psychology, 67(2), 351-387.

Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36-62.

Fortune.com (2018). PayPal CEO: Your Actions Define You, Not Your Words. [online] Fortune.com. Available at: https://fortune.com/2018/03/20/paypal-ceo-dan-schulman-advice/https://fortune.com/https://fortune.com/2018/03/20/paypal-ceo-dan-schulman-advice//03/20/paypal-ceo-dan-schulman-advice/ [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

Gelles, D. (2018). Dan Schulman of PayPal on Guns, Cash and Getting Punched. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/business/dan-schulman-paypal-corner-office.html

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.

Hogan, R. (2017). Personality and the fate of organizations. Psychology Press.

News.com.au. (2018). PayPal’s new CEO was homeless. Retrieved from https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/paypals-incoming-ceo-once-spent-24-hours-living-on-the-streets/news-story/41f393ce1fb241bd4481fc557e1894af

Özer, F., & T?naztepe, C. (2014). Effect of strategic leadership styles on firm performance: A study in a Turkish SME. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150, 778-784.

Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations. Pearson Education India.