Portfolio Essay: Final Draft

Josef Ackermann (Deutsche Bank/Germany)

Using Darling and Leffel’s (2010) framework, this essay will evaluate on how Josef Ackermann demonstrated his leadership style as a Swiss banker, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Deutsche Bank and Chairman of Zurich Insurance.

As defined by Peter Northouse (2001), leadership is a process, in which an individual influences a group to achieve a common goal. And to achieve that goal, a visionary leader should put forth much effort to critically apply his leadership skills and knowledge. In general, leadership is more than management. To be successful, a leader has to be strategic, show motivation and innovation, and should be flexible and focused …show more content…

However, it is important for leaders to be aware of their weaknesses. The Director can become dominating and insensitive while weaknesses of the Analyser are perfectionism and inflexibility. Leadership style has a major impact on the success of an organisation. Without Josef Ackermann´s determination, focus and vision as a Director and Analyser, Deutsche Bank, may not have become one of the world´s leading financial services with global focus. Being a symbol of German financial might, he is at the centre of more concentric circles of power than any other banker on the Continent. He has successfully led Deutsche for a decade during the global financial crisis and euro zone debt turmoil. From this seat at the nexus of money and politics, Ackermann, for better or worse, is helping to shape Europe’s economic and financial future. He seems such a fixture that it is hard to imagine Germany without him (Ewing & Alderman, 2011).

References:

Darling, J. & Leffel, A. (2010). Developing the leadership team in an Entrepreneurial Venture: A Case of Focusing on the Importance of Styles: Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 23(3), 355-371.

Deluga, R. (1990). The Effects of Transformational, Transactional, and Laissez Faire
Leadership Characteristics on Subordinate Influencing Behavior. Basic & Applied Social Psychology, 11(2), 191-203. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Ewing, J. & Alderman, L.