COACH A LEADER

Leadership is a highly prized process and capability. Organizations invest billions of dollars each year in recruiting and developing leadership talent. As more companies compete primarily on the basis of how well they employ their human capabilities, the importance of leadership continues to grow. This exercise will provide you with an opportunity to play coach to a leader entering a challenging situation.

Step 1: Consultants. Assume that the members of your small team are a group of consultants working with Research In Motion (RIM) chief executive John S. Chen. BlackBerry has recently decided to no longer produce smartphones. Intense market competition and past technology choices led the company to this final product decision. Instead, BlackBerry will produce software, chips, and other hardware. You need to advise Chen how to best lead his organization through this significant change.

Step 2: Leadership decisions. Work as a team to develop a set of leadership recommendations for the chief executive. In this situation, what do you think employees need most from their leader?

Questions

1) Why would strategic leadership support the BlackBerry employees through this change?

2) Should your team recommend that Chen adopt transactional or transformational leadership qualities at this time?