Inspirational Leaders Essay Example for Free

Inspirational Leaders Essay In 1994, the internet was fresh in the market, and it did not incorporate commerce in its operations. As a result, he saw an opportunity for a new business network, and after doing research, he made a decision of creating a space in the internet where books could be viewed by the public. This led to the creation of Amazon in 1995. Today, Amazon is widely successful and has had a great impact on the organizational culture of internet business. Jeff Bezos is considered to be the founder of e-commerce, remains a pioneer in the industry (Inc, 2009). This paper will discuss how the culture of Amazon has changed as a result of Jeff Bezos presence; today, among many things, the public can view full book lists on Amazon, a mission that was impossible before the early 1990s. Organizational Culture Organizational culture can be related to how an organization organizes itself based on its rules and beliefs; therefore, culture gives an organization an identity. The behavioral patterns of an organization are represented in their norms; according to Kratschmer (2011, p. 2), organizational culture includes values that are shared among the members of an organization. Needless to say, organizational culture can be changed. Kratschmer (2011, p. 3) adds that, organizational culture can be changed and lead to success, only if well managed. In addition, resistance to change is expected in any organization mainly because the employees are already attached to the existing culture; hence, they may resist change for fear of the unknown. Needless to say, changes in organizational culture can be of great benefit, for instance, it may contribute to new knowledge and skills for the employees, and productivity is achieved through motivating employees. Finally, as employees adapt to change, flexibility is achieved, which leads to improvement. However, for organizational culture to be successful, effective leaders must be in place. Culture is very important, as it promotes healthy competition at the place of work, hence motivating employees to perform. A healthy culture promotes employees’ interaction at the place of work, therefore uniting them despite their different backgrounds. Providing employees with a favorable working place increases their productivity. Schein (2010, p. 80) adds that, the shared values and beliefs in an organization are important, as they determine how goals are met. Moreover, a strong culture retains talents, engages employees, creates energy, changes how work is viewed, and contributes towards cooperation at the place of work. Jeff Bezos is one of the few inspirational leaders who have contributed to change of culture in Amazon, leading to the success of the business. Amazon and change in organizational culture When Jeff Bezos discovered the potential of the internet in 1994, nothing held him back from introducing commerce in the system; he abandoned a well-paying job and concentrated on Amazon. Today, amazon. com is one of the internet giants, fostering online retail and an e-reader. Indeed, he is among the founders of e-commerce (Inc, 2009). Within 30 days, he had sold books in all the American states and in 45 countries, with sales worth $20,000 weekly. Since then, the growth of Amazon continuously accelerated, but it 1997, he announced that the company would be unprofitable for some time. However, in 2003, Amazon made its first annual profit, contributing to revenue of $4billion by 2008 (Inc, 2009). The company has embraced e-commerce, and Bezos’ will to start an online bookstore has yielded to a diverse selection of books. Today, he is the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon. com. According to Katzenbach (2008, p. 6), Jeff Bezos insists on fostering positive motivation, which does not involve money. Employees are likely to be motivated to performing their tasks if they are committed and disciplined. Ensuring that respect is fostered among employees will help in maintaining a positive working environment. Amazon. com recognizes employees’ effort by giving a specific employee an award on monthly basis for the capability of making significant savings. Amazon’s culture includes an informal, but effective environment, one that involves fun; this company is obsessed with customers. Therefore, it continuously improves its website and its systems with an aim of serving customers quickly and reliably. It also strives to maintain its culture, which includes talented personnel, who are creative and innovative in finding solutions to challenges (Lussier, 2011, p. 56). Therefore, it is evident that a strong culture is influenced by effective leadership. According to Dubrin (2011, p. 291), the strong organizational culture fosters quality, productivity and morale; such a culture values human dignity, and therefore, it fosters job satisfaction and increases employee motivation. Jeff Bezos has noted that a culture that involves experimentation is crucial in the continuously changing world. Invention may lead one to paths that are considered weird by the world (Dubrin, 2011, p. 291). Before the existence of Amazon, click shopping did not exist; these are some of the changes brought about by Amazon. The company also deals with online shopping for electronics, computers movies, games, music, as well as books. Amazon, being one of the web giants, implies that an effective leader must be diverse, being behind such a company that started very small and transformed into a giant. Bezos is regarded as visionary, but he is keen that his employees meet the demanding schedules; weekly management meetings are set with his managers. In addition, he encourages his employees to be innovative, and a reward program has been implemented that rewards innovative employees (Zakomurnaya, 2007). Moreover, the company hires intelligent and innovative personnel; indeed, Bezos would rather not hire anyone rather than hire the wrong person. Bezos is also approachable and easy -going, which makes him an effective leader. In 2007, Amazon introduced a hand-held electronic book reader, which uses E-ink to bring out a print-like appearance and has no strain on the eyes. In addition, the introduction of I-pad to the world was seen as direct competition for Amazon, therefore, Jeff introduced Kindle Fire, which shares many of the same features as I-pad, but is much cheaper. The Amazon kindle fire is an e-book reader, which is a small hand-held device; this is as a result of technological advances. Nevertheless, these e-book devices are expensive, but advantageous compared to paper copy; indeed, technology has changed in the digital reading world. Another advantage is that these e-readers can be borrowed from libraries. According to Mc Graw Hill (N. d, p. 3), kindle fire is competitive compared to other e-book readers. In 2007, Amazon. com created a successful e-bookstore that allowed client access from any computer or from e-book reader model. Amazon has therefore made book reading easier, and the kindle e-book can be referred to as published. Amazon. com offers a collection of above two million free e-books with titles; therefore, Amazon has succeeded in improving the digital world by providing e-book readers, which assist online clients in accessing digital e-books. For instance, the kindle e-Book reader has a rechargeable battery, which is built in and has a wide internal storage that can fit 1000 full-length books (Mc Graw Hill, N. d, p. 5). Another advantage of owning kindle fire e-book reader is that, the kindler-formatted e-books are easily accessed. In addition, kindle fire can be used as a form of an entertainment device, which allows one to surf the web, send, and receive emails, among other functions. Therefore, Amazon’s Kindle fire is a device of many functions, which is a competition for I-pad among other devices. Amazon prime is a membership program, which enables individuals to receive unlimited fast shipping. Members enjoy a variety of services, which include unlimited and instant streaming of above 10,000 movies and television shows. Amazon prime offers a wide variety of kindle books through the kindle lending library; members who own kindle devices benefit more from reading and borrowing books for free. In addition, members of Amazon prime enjoy free shipping for orders that are above $25, a relatively good deal for customers. Moreover, Amazon prime enables one to try free shipping for one month, and ensures that customers save by spending less, and save time by guaranteeing two day shipping. It also provides unlimited deliveries, hence guaranteeing convenience. Big online shoppers benefit the most, and this is because of the unlimited deliveries that guarantee quality of members’ money. With a range of affordable entertainment, free movies, free kindle e- books, and a two-day shipping for only $75, Amazon prime is a friendly program. Therefore, Jeff Bezos’ intervention has led to a variety of services and products that blow the clients’ minds away. It is this transformation from a small enterprise to an internet giant that has led to a change in culture at Amazon. Conclusion Jeff Bezos, the founder and the chief executive officer of Amazon. com is a visionary, and has contributed to the success of this company through motivating employees with rewards, as well as ensuring that customers’ demands are met. He is an inspiring leader, and despite the fact that he does not value communication, he believes in the â€Å"just-do-it† aspect that motivates employees to perform. Jeff is not limited to only e-books, he has also engages in online retailing of music, movies, clothes, and streaming television shows. The unveiling of kindle fire in 2007 is among his achievements; Amazon prime has also been a competitive advantage for the company and has attracted many members. A strong organization culture requires an effective leader; Amazon is one successful company that has been influenced by an inspirational leader. Indeed, Jeff has contributed to various changes in the organization, which have contributed to successful culture in the organization.

The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage Essay -- American History

The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage The campaign developed at that time, as it was then the rights of women began to improve. Though women were still thought of as second-class citizens, during the 1870’s the women’s suffrage became a mass movement. Prior to 1870, there were laws that meant that women were unable to keep any of their earnings once they married. That also meant that all her possessions belonged to her husband as well. In 1870, the Married Women’s Property Act meant that women were allowed to keep  £200 of their earnings. Women such as Caroline Norton are what helped the campaign develop. After a court found that she was innocent of adultery, Caroline Norton’s husband left her and took their children, taking with him her inheritance. Because of the laws at that time, she had no real control over whether she was permitted to see her children, even when one of her sons died. She fought this, even though British law was against her as she was technically the property of her husband. She battled this until in 1873 the law was changed so that all women could see their children if they were divorced from their husband. It was because laws such as this were changed that others began to believe that it was possible to gain the women’s suffrage. Legal steps were then being taken to better the position of women, legal inequalities that faced women were beginning to then balance out. Another cause to why the women’s suffrage developed was because of economical reasons. In the late 1800’s, women were paid half, and sometimes less than half, what men were in the same jobs. For example, in the 1880s in domestic service,... ... people’s views on them, it was not the only factor that gave them the franchise. During the war, there was the Coalition Government and members of this were pro-women’s suffrage. In 1917, the Prime Minister Sir Asquith – who was anti-women’s suffrage – resigned. The new PM was Lloyd George, who was actually sympathetic to women receiving the vote. The fact that women had done so much during the war meant that passing the bill was easier that it was before the war. It would have been even unfair if women had done so much during the war, yet they had still not gotten the vote. But there were men that were less qualified and had the vote. This double standard was also a reason. So though the war effort played a part in them receiving the vote, it was not the only reason why women were able to vote once the war had ended.

9/11 Conspiracies Essay

On September 11th, 2001, Islamic terrorists hijacked four passenger airlines. Two of the planes flew into the twin towers; one plane flew into the Pentagon; and the other plane was aimed at Washington D.C., but was taken over by passengers on the plane and crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In total, nearly 3,000 people died including 227 civilians on the plane and 19 hijackers. These hijackers were believed to be under the command of Osama Bin Laden, the head of the terrorist group Al Qaeda. However, the question of whether these attacks are truly as the government has portrayed or whether they actually part of a larger scheme to justify war in Iraq has come into light in recent years. Many individuals criticize the story told by the federal government and create alternate theories that explain some confusion with the attacks. The most popular and convincing of these theories is the controlled demolition and collapse of the twin towers by the federal government. The radical side of the political left was the first to start the conspiracy theories concerning 9/11. People have always had a deep distrust of our government. The most convincing of the theories about 9/11 is the strategic placement of bombs in the three buildings to cause a collapse (NewsOne, 2012). When you watch the videos of the collapsing towers, it looks like a controlled demolition instead of what one would expect from a building just hit by a plane or collapsing from a fire (Brain, 2013). The buildings collapse in on themselves rather than burning from the bottom up which creates a gargantuan amount of skepticism as to the accuracy of the story told by the government. So when people see something that doesn’t make sense, such as how three buildings collapsed from a fire, it begs lots of questions (Brain, 2013). This allowed many cu rious conspirators with an abundance of time on their hands to snoop around and see what they could possibly find that would better explain the actual cause of the collapse of the three buildings, disproving the official story expressed by the government. It is also important to understand how conspiracy theorists  build their case to perpetuate certain conspiracies. Upon examining the collapse of the north tower, the south tower, and WTC 7, it is easily determined that the collapse of these three buildings is not only unusual, it is almost unbelievable. No skyscraper has ever collapsed by a fire alone; however, on the day of the attacks, a blaze took down three separate towers. It is highly improbable that such a fire would take down two skyscrapers that stood 110 stories high and an additional building that was never touched by a plane. These discrepancies grant conspirators a form of â€Å"credibility† that makes their theories believable to many people. Although the official story may seem a bit anomalous, that doesn’t necessarily give a reason why people believe it. Scandals like the Iran-Contra affair with President Reagan and the Watergate Scandal with President Nixon create a deep distrust with many people and their government when such scandals prove that the government and its leaders deliberately mislead or lie to the public. So much so that people often look to find things that the government could be lying about or covering up. When conspirators start to gather evidence for their theories, this same process occurs (Brain, 2013). After discovering scandals involving the federal government, it’s impossible to trust all of the official stories told by the government. Furthermore, even if the collapse of the north and south towers is believable, the collapse of the third building is extremely difficult to believe as it was never touched by a plane. It seems impossible that a building that was never touched by anything except fire would completely collapse if no tower has ever been completely destroyed by a fire before (911Truth, n.d.) . According to Van Romero, an explosives expert and Vice President of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, there had to have been explosives in the building for it to have collapsed in such a demolition-like manner. Additionally, the controlled explosions that were theorized to have taken place in the towers have been accredited with puffs of dust and debris seen being shot out from the building (Popular Mechanics, 2013). There is no way to explain the puffs of dust shooting out of the buildings from a mere fire that caused a collapse of the building without there being an external force of explosions. Because of the suspicious circumstances of the 9/11 event, there must be some amount of skepticism. The government and its leaders are historically proven to not be above lying to the public from instances like  Watergate and Iran-Contra affair. 9/11 could just as easily be the same way. Without clear answers to these questions the reality of an inside job is immense and cannot be overlooked. Although there are many who refuse to believe the official story told by the federal government, there are also large quantities of people who do believe the official story. Many people consider the World Trade Center collapse as a highly unlikely scenario unless additional force was added to bring the building down. However, others find it extremely difficult to believe that the government would commit such an atrocity and would instead argue that the structure of the building and widespread damage from debris were the main contributors to the collapse of the buildings (Popular Mechanics, 2013). Without solid proof, it is preposterous to believe a theory that does not have any facts or basis for the assertions that it makes. For example, many often believe that even if the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were true, there are still some unanswered questions. Conspiracy theorists are quick to draw a link between the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq claiming it was a justification for invasion as support of it being a government conspiracy. However, this is clearly false in that the justification in the intervention in Iraq was the risk that Sadam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction meaning that 9/11 was not needed as justification for the war in Iraq. Another reason the notion of inside job is ludicrous is because it would be impossible for all of the media to gloss over such an event had it been a governmental conspiracy. There are also no hard facts for conspirators to base their theories on meaning there is no reason to believe them. To understand the collapse of the towers it is important to understand the structure of the buildings. The twin towers were created using â€Å"innovative† design. It was built with central core columns like most other buildings. However, instead of reinforcing the columns with fireproof concrete, they decided to fortify the columns using a sprayed on form of fire proofing called â€Å"Passive† fire proofing, which was much faster but also less effective (debunking911). This is what allowed the jet fuel from the plane to be so deadly. Many people argue that jet fuel is not near hot enough to melt steel, which is actually true. However, jet fuel burns between 800 and 1500 degrees Fahrenheit while the melting point of steel is around 2750 degrees Fahrenheit. Most experts agree though that the steel doesn’t need to melt for the entire building to  collapse. According to Farid Alfawak-hiri, the senior engineer of the American Institute of Steel Construction says th at at 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, Steel loses 50 percent of its strength. At 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, Steel is less than 10 percent. This immense heat can then cause Steel to become bent and warped which can in turn collapse the entire building (Popular Mechanics 2013). The first plane crashed into the 94th through the 98th floors of the first tower; the second plane crashed into the 78th through 84th floors of the south building. Additionally, there was damage in both of the lobbies of the buildings before the collapse of the two towers. Conspirators make a common claim that the planes could not have caused that much damage to go through over 80 floors to reach the lobby without some sort of explosive material. However, The National institutes of Standards and Technology released a report revealing that the debris of the plane had sliced through the elevator shaft which created an outlet for jet fuel. If the fuel came into contact with any combustible sources, it would immediately explode causing severe damage. Jet fuel traveling down the elevator shaft would cause extensive damage to the lobby as well. A similar observation as to the cause of the damage in the lobby was noted in the South’s building also (Popular Mechanics 2013). This fact illustrates the improbability of explosives being needed to cause a collapse of the skyscrapers. Despite the plethora of convincing theories about the attack of September 11th, many people will still continue to remain unconvinced due to the lack of evidence, even if the government was truly involved with the collapse of the twin towers. Furthermore, people who don’t believe the conspiracies about the twin towers would contend that the actual structure of the building and the intense launching of debris from the crash were the causes to the collapse of the towers, not bombs planted by the government. The lack of factual evidence on the side of the conscripts coupled with the overwhelming evidence that the government was not involved makes i t nearly impossible to believe that 9/11 was an inside job. References Brain, M. (n.d.). How Conspiracy Theories Work. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://people.howstuffworks.com/conspiracy-theory2.htm Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Controlled Demolition Myths – Government Planning. (n.d.). Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Controlled Demolition Myths – Government Planning. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from http://www.debunking911.com/meeting.htm Popular Mechanics. (n.d.). Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report – The World Trade Center. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/debunking-911-myths-world-trade-center â€Å"Reality Check: More American’s are â€Å"Rethinking† 9/11† 9/11?. (n.d.). 911Truthorg. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.911truth.org/tag/controlled-demolition/ The 11 Most Compelling 9/11 Conspiracy Theories. (2012, September 11). News One RSS. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://newsone.com/742485/the-11-most-compelling-911-conspiracy-theories/

A Critical of Awareness of Social Issues within Popular...

John Harris’s article â€Å"Pussy Riot: The Power of Punk† explains that social change can occur rapidly in popular culture than in politics. The popular cultural process of change is rather a process of creating awareness to social issues than an immediate action. Popular culture, in its various forms, is the essential motivator of awareness of social issues leading to an increase of discernment amongst the masses and lay about the foundation for change to arise. This paper is focused on how awareness can be achieved through certain factors in culture which includes the power of social media to spread news due to the globalization of communicational processes, musical genres that co-exist with countercultures to bring issues into the public eye, and gatherings of people with a common belief that are striving for change. Through the Internet, social media outlets easily connect billions to websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit making them quite popular sources to gather updated information. Globalization has made it possible to have information readily available to users on the web and can create awareness to social issues that are occurring in the immediate present. Recently, the internet gave awareness to the story of Edward Snowden published online by the Guardian which revealed the United States NSA’s unconstitutional surveillance of its citizens causing a 55% disapproval rate amongst Americans for such activities (Gallup, par. 1) leading the agency to remove many ofShow MoreRelatedThe Horror And Thematic Thrill Of The Zombie1288 Words   |  6 Pagesdiscourse, popular narrative engages with social issues expressing a collective critique encouraging or discouraging social conformity. 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