Essay Sample: Aviation Leadership with a Christian Perspective

Leadership is a crucial element in the aviation sector. Every aviation leader understands the importance of leadership as it profoundly influences flight safety and the aspect of business aviation. Leadership refers to the capacity and will to rally people to a joint purpose, and it also applies to as the character that influences confidence in other individuals (Maxwell, 1999). Leadership involves controlling other people through the provision of purpose, motivation, and directions with the intent of achieving a common goal. The aviation field has a handful of individuals that can be referred to as good aviation leaders. One of those leaders being Richard Branson. This paper will research and evaluate the leadership attributes of Richard Branson. The paper will also compare the aviation leader to a leader in the Bible.

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Part One: Richard Branson: Historical background

Richard Branson was born in Surrey, England on July 18, 1950. He had a hard time in school due to his dyslectic condition. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 and opted for the business route. He began his first business which was a youth-culture magazine called 'Student,' the magazine was written and published by students. The business performed extremely well causing him to begin a mail-order record company called Virgin. The Virgin Company's main purpose was to fund the 'Student' magazine. After successfully starting the mail-order record company, Richard built a recording studio in Oxford shire.

Richard Branson succeeded in opening two companies, later on, he began having an interest in aviation. This interest resulted in Richard launching the Voyager Group travel in 1980. The launch of the travel company led to the establishment of the Virgin Atlantic airline in 1984 incorporation with Randolph. The airline's head office is in Crawley in the United Kingdom. The carrier uses the Airbus and the Boeing planes to cover numerous destinations across the world. Richard Branson's thirst and interest for aero-technology did not stop, he further on proceeded to establish the Virgin Galactic (Networks, 2017). The Virgin Galactic dealt with aerospace; the company launched a spaceship referred to as the 'SpaceShip Two.'

Richard Branson is currently a billionaire, and his efforts in the aviation industry have led to a considerable impact. The impact is also a result of his transformational leadership style and his great leadership traits.

Richard Branson's Leadership Traits

As discussed above Richard Branson applied the transformational leadership style, this leadership style refers to leadership that aims at creating a positive change in those who follow CITATION DeV96 \l 1033 (De Vries, 1996). With regards to transformational leadership, it aims at creating valuable and positive change in every follower with the intent of developing the followers into leaders. In its authentic form, transformational leadership promotes the morale, motivation, and performance of the followers through different methods. Transformational leadership bases on four main elements, the individual consideration, the intellectual stimulation, the inspirational motivation and the idealized influence. Personal consideration deals with the extent to which the leader is willing to go to attend to his/her followers' needs; the leader is expected to act as a mentor, coach, and listener to the people he leads. The intellectual stimulation deals with the extent to which the leader battles assumptions, this refers to taking risks and also applying the ideas of his followers. Inspirational motivation refers to the ability of the leader to create a vision for his followers that inspires and motivates them. Idealized influence refers to the strength of the leader to emulate ethical behavior in his duties, and as a result, he/she gains his/her followers trust.

The character traits portrayed by transformational leaders such as Richard Branson include the following, controlling their ego, self-management, ability to take risks, ability to make difficult decisions, inspirational, promote new ideas, proactivity, leading with a vision and adaptability. The three main leadership traits portrayed by Richard Branson include keeping his ego in check/humility, ability to take risks, leading with a vision.

Keeping his ego in check/humility

This leadership trait goes hand in hand with humility. Richard Branson realizes that it is straightforward to let one's ego interfere with one's role as a leader. Therefore, he always tries to control his ego such that his ego does not interfere with the primary objective or interest of his employees at Virgin Atlantic. Richard Branson depicts that once one can control his/her ego, the leader can always have a preference for his organization or company (Virgin Atlantic) and not use the position for self-gain. This trait of controlling one's ego is similar to the character of humility. Humility is having a modest view of one's importance.

Authority

Authority refers to the power or capability that an individual has to make decisions and enforce obedience, it also applies to the ability to direct or control someone. With regards to the correlation between the leadership trait of keeping one's ego in check and the effectiveness of Richard Branson when it comes to exercising his authority, Richard Branson tried his level best not to allow his status of being in charge collide with his ego. Richard Branson took it upon himself at all times to exercise humility in all his duties and in so doing focused only on the main issue at hand which was Virgin Atlantic. This preference on his responsibilities as a leader at Virgin Atlantic enabled him to exercise his authority strictly but in a light manner.

Responsibility

As Richard kept his ego in check, he was able to focus on all his duties that accrued from being a leader at Virgin Atlantic. He faced no difficulty in being responsible as he had no distractions, his only aim was to provide quality products and services that would benefit the society.

Accountability

Richard believed that a balance was required between accountability and all the operations of the company and this could only be achieved by someone who is well aware of what he/she is doing (Solomon, 2007). As Richard was able to control his ego and shift his focus directly to performing his duties as a leader, he was accountable.

Ability to take risks

Richard Branson is well aware of the importance of making calculated risks. Richard took very many risks as he ventured into business. He was able to trust his instincts and also relied on the information obtained by his team members and employees; these acts resulted in Richard being able to make informed decisions. Richard at all times had the support of his team, and he was always up to the task of evaluating every situation concerning risk efficiently (Branson, 1985). Richard also sought the inputs of his employees and team when it came to matters of risky decisions that promote growth.

Authority

Richard was able to exercise his authority efficiently as he could handle any matter at any time that concerned taking risks. The act of taking risks in a calculated manner and his reliance on the information from his followers enabled him to gain respect. Respect instills authority.

Responsibility and Accountability

Richard did not just take any risk instead he took calculated risks. His risks were backed up by his instincts and the information from his team and his employees. He was able to become accountable and responsible if any risk taken did not go as planned.

Leading with a vision

Richard as a leader came up with an achievable and realistic vision for Virgin Atlantic Airways. Richard always had a vision that is to grow and develop a profitable airline that is characterized by people who love to fly and people who like to work. He also had a vision of creating quality products and services for the community. Richard always communicated his views efficiently to all his employees and the people he led. He tried to develop a sense of purpose and commitment by ensuring every follower bought into the vision.

Authority

The aspect of leadership with authority can only take form once the leader is aware of where he/she is going. The leader can just be aware if he/she has a vision, Richard Branson has a view that enables him to guide his followers into the direction that he desires them to follow. This vision creates a sense of authority

Responsibility and accountability

The vision allows for Virgin Atlantic to have a common purpose and commitment, and it guides the followers under Richard Branson. Once the followers are aware of their vision, they are expected to work towards achieving it. If they fail to do so, Richard will be held accountable and responsible because the company is expected to obtain its vision. Hence, the vision creates a sense of accountability and responsibility.

Moral/ethical dilemma faced by Richard Branson

Richard met an ethical issue that involved the obligation that the Virgin Atlantic airline has to support the interests of its stakeholders. Aside from the fact that the primary objective of the company is to make profits, the profits have to be made within the legal frameworks established in the various countries CITATION Jil07 \l 1033 (Solomon, 2007). As a result of the suffering of the company and the limitations that the business suffers because of the legal provisions, this led to an ethical dilemma. Such that, Richard was faced with a situation that entailed whether his company should proceed to make profits within the legal frameworks or not. Richard chose to let the companies stick to the statutory provisions set. This was deemed to be an ethical solution.

Part Two: Moses

The character from the Bible who this section shall focus on is Moses:

The Narrative of Moses

The story of Moses is outlined in the Book of Exodus. Moses was born an Israelite in Egypt during a time when the Israelites after the death of Joseph were slaves to the Egyptian people. At the time of his birth, the Israelites were very many as they had increased in number since the time they first entered Egypt. The Pharaoh at the time was anxious concerning the vast number of Israelites because he was afraid that the Israelites might gang up with Egypt's enemies and wage war against the Egyptians and as a result, he ordered that every new-born boy is killed. Jochebed, Moses' mother, gave birth during that time. After giving birth to Moses, Jochebed hid Moses in a basket and left him in the Nile River where the Queen Bithia rescued Moses and raised him as his own.

As soon as Moses was of age, God spoke to him through a burning bush and instructed him that he will be the one to deliver God's People from Egypt. As Moses could not speak fluently, God called Aaron to become the spokesperson of Moses. Moses proceeded to Egypt to request for the release of the enslaved Israelites, but the Pharaoh refused. The refusal resulted into Moses caused the ten plagues through the power of God. After the ten plagues, the Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea and proceeded to Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Moses advanced to lead the Israelites for 40 years before dying on Mount Nebo.

Leadership Traits of Moses

Moses applied different leadership traits because he led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness. The primary leadership traits shown by Moses include the following; delegation, listening to the Almighty, recognition of God's presence in our lives, one should not compromise what is required and finally hu...