Responsible Leadership

Responsible Leadership

Title How do they maintain their public profile to maximise their breathe of influence. Use Pless and Maak

for the definition of responsible leadership.

Responsible Leadership is understood as a

� �values-based and thorough ethical principles-driven relationship between leaders and stakeholders
who are connected through a shared sense of meaning and purpose through which they raise one
another to higher levels of motivation and commitment for achieving sustainable values creation and

social change.�

 Introduction
There are various leadership styles that have been researched and expounded on in
numerous books and articles by scholars worldwide. These leadership styles range from

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traditional leadership style, servant leadership style, charismatic leadership style, dictatorial
leadership style, transformational leadership style, authentic leadership style, participatory
leadership style and democratic leadership style among others (Beyer, 2010). Despite all the
literature available on these styles, corporate and national leadership has failed to provide
solutions to the current challenges facing society. The financial crisis in the late 2000’s pointed
to deficiencies in current leadership styles practiced in many corporations. These leadership
styles have been unable to control management self interest and greed which is blamed for the
various challenges facing society (Pless & Maak, 2011). The collapse of corporate giants such as
Enron, Lehman brothers, Arthur Andersen and World com among others has put into the
limelight the leadership styles practiced by top managers in organizations. Industry regulators
have formulated and passed various laws to try and tame greed and reckless self interest in
managerial decision making in corporate entities (Roche, 2010). One of the regulations that
came up was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Responsible leadership style is a new fad that intends to
push managers to be conscious of the impact of their decisions on society and the world around
them (Pless & Maak, 2011). Various challenges that the world faces currently can be blamed on
poor leadership styles. Some of these challenges include increasing levels of poverty in the
world. The gap between the rich and the poor has continued to widen to a level that the world is
viewed as having two tribes namely the filthy rich and the filthy dirt poor. The other challenges
that current leadership styles have failed to address include increasing prevalence of manageable
diseases which include lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and
cancer among others (Pless & Maak, 2011). The worlds has also witnessed disasters that are
associated with leadership failure in organizations such as the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, the
Bhopal disaster for Union Carbide, Shell’s Brent Spar and numerous Nigerian failures. These

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failures led to a debate on social responsibility by corporate entities and it is what has led to the
new leadership fad known as responsible leadership. The current problems facing the world
either on the corporate scene or in public spheres can be associated with manager’s inability to
embrace responsible leadership (Pless & Maak, 2011).
Importance of followers
Great leadership inspires followership from others who are mentored by the leaders. The two
celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver rose to their current status because they were
good followers of their mentors in the industry. Jamie Oliver was mentored by Gennaro
Contaldo whom he met while on his first job as a pastry chef at Antonio Carluccio ‘s Neal’s Yard
restaurant. It can be argued that Jamie Oliver’s rise to fame was due to responsible leadership
style that he embraced from the start of his career (Roche, 2010). At one time Jamie Oliver
trained under another celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey was
mentored by Guy Savoy whom he met in France. The two celebrity chefs have had numerous
followers whom they have trained and mentored to become responsible leaders in their various
fields. The two celebrity chefs owe their rise to fame to responsible leadership (Pless & Maak,
2011). The society expects businesses and their leaders to take active roles in fostering
responsible behavior within their organizations and also in wider societal spheres. Responsible
leaders are expected to create responsible organizational cultures that create value on societal,
economic and environmental fronts. Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver Jamie’s School Dinners were
inspired by the desire to check the unhealthy eating habits of school children in British schools.
This was responsible leadership as it was aimed at solved at solving one of society’s problems
that was attributed to unhealthy diets. Due to unhealthy diets many school going children have

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developed lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure among
others.
Organizational Challenges
Different organizations face different challenges which impede the assimilation of
responsible leadership and by extension other leadership styles. One of the major challenges is
increased competition. This challenge makes it difficult for an organization to increase its
revenues to fund social responsibility programs. Chef Gordon Ramsey first show was to trouble
shoot on restaurants that were facing challenges and come up with solutions to turn them around.
Some of the restaurants that the two celebrity chefs started or influenced their establishment also
collapsed which points to the high failure rate in the industry due to stiff competition. The other
challenge is the prevailing culture (Pless & Maak, 2011). In many organizations leaders or
managers are viewed with a lot of suspicion. These high levels of mistrust make it impossible to
mentor followers well. There is need for organizational leaders to build trust between themselves
and their followers. Being authentic is one way of building trust. Leaders are supposed to be
transparent in the way they coach their followers. They should not withhold information or make
fun of their followers. By being sincere and honest leaders are able to build good followership.
The next challenge is modern technology which is fast changing rendering existing knowledge
obsolete. This forces the leaders to keep on training to upgrade their skills. In the hospitality
industry, turnover is very high and organizational failure is also high (Pless & Maak, 2011).
Stakeholders for the two celebrity chefs
It is important to note that the success of any leadership style depends on the perception
that various stakeholders have on an organization. Each organization has various stakeholders.

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In the case of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey, stakeholders include bankers who provide
various financial solutions in form of debt or equity financing to enable establishment of new
restaurants (Thomas, O’Doherty & Felsted, 2010). Without financiers the two celebrity chefs
cannot achieve their expansion goals. The perception that the general public has on their
leadership styles and quality of the food served in their existing restaurants has a big impact on
the willingness of bankers to provide finance. The other category of stakeholders includes
employees. Both celebrity chefs run chains of restaurants which employ several employees
(Henderson, 2011). Even though the two celebrity chefs are stars in the show, they need loyal
followers in the name of employees to implement their projects and run their restaurants. These
must be motivated otherwise the entire venture would simply fail. The next category of
stakeholders includes customers. Customers are basically members of public who have been
sufficiently persuaded to purchase an organizations products and services. Jamie Oliver and
Gordon Ramsey must provide services and food that meet the needs of their customers otherwise
they would be forced out of business. Customers are the ones who keep businesses going.
Without adequate customers a business would be unable to meet its breakeven sales and volumes
(Macaux, 2012). The government is another important stakeholder in this case. The government
is basically interested on the taxes that the business pays, the number of job opportunities created
or to be created and the business compliance standards with statutory policies (Thomas,
O’Doherty & Felsted, 2010). The government is a very powerful stakeholder who can push a
company out of business very easily. The other stakeholder includes creditors. Jamie Oliver and
Gordon Ramsey have various creditors who supply various commodities and offer services to
them and their restaurants. This category is very keen to ensure they get what is due to them.
The society in general is also an important stakeholder. The society sanctions and approves the

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activities of companies. A company that is perceived to be a threat to the general wellbeing of
society will most likely be forced out of business (Thomas, O’Doherty & Felsted, 2010).
Responsible leadership and the two celebrity chefs
Responsible leadership is a new leadership paradigm shift that is aimed at solving existing gaps
in the current leadership theory and solving challenges that leaders face in their daily activities.
As the name suggests, responsible leadership centers firmly on matters to do with responsibility,
appropriate moral decision-making, trust and accountability (Pless & Maak, 2011). In the
context of leadership, responsible leadership attempts to identify what the word responsible
entails. Responsible leaders are accountable for the actions they take, are answerable for the
decisions they make and are trusted and reliable. Responsible leadership is largely relational.
Responsible leadership is aimed at meeting other people’s needs (Henderson, 2011). Responsible
leaders anticipate and address others concerns and identifies what and to whom the leaders are
responsible for their actions. Responsible leaders attempt to identify who they are responsible for
and what it entails to respond to the concerns that they have. Responsible leadership is an ethical
and relational phenomenon that occurs in a social process of interaction with those affected or is
affect by leadership and has a stake in the leadership purpose and vision (Henderson, 2011).
The two celebrity chefs can be said to have practiced responsible leadership styles. In the Naked
Chef series in 1999-2000, the title chosen for the Jamie Oliver series, was a reference to the
simplicity of Oliver’s recipes and had nothing to do with nudity. Nevertheless, Jamie Oliver
expressly stated that he was unhappy with the title series. In this series Jamie Oliver
demonstrated simple recipes that could be assembled by a majority of busy working people. He
also distances himself from the nudity title chosen for the show (Stone, Russell & Patterson,

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2004). This was ethically and morally upright. This act demonstrated what responsible leadership
is all about. In the following program called Jamie’s Kitchen, the chef attempted to train a group
of disadvantaged youths who he promised to employ if they completed the course successfully at
Oliver’s new restaurant “Fifteen” in Westland Place, London, N1 (Schneider & George, 2011).
This was an attempt to solve a long standing problem of unemployment and also to come to the
aid of the disadvantaged in society. This was responsible leadership at its best. Jamie’s School
diner’s program in 2005 in which Jamie Oliver took responsibility of running the kitchen meals
in Kidbrooke School, Greenwich for a years was also a demonstration of responsible leadership
(Henderson, 2011). Jamie Oliver had been disgusted by the unhealthy food that was served to
school children in British schools and the lack of alternatives on offer. His campaign to improve
the standard of British school meals caught public awareness and the British Government
pledged to spend £280m on school to provide dinners to school children for a period of three
years. This was a long standing societal problem which had gone unnoticed or had been ignored
for years. By Oliver’s initiative a solution was found (Henderson, 2011).
Celebrity coach Gordon Ramsey also practiced responsible leadership style. In his television
series, Gordon Ramsey trained chefs for his restaurants and also empowered other people to start
their own restaurants. One of his television series was to trouble shoot on problems that affected
restaurants and design solutions to turn them around (Henderson, 2011). In this way he exhibited
responsible leadership as he attempted to solve the challengers facing restaurant owners. In
doing so he demonstrated a regard for others and assisted in solving the problems that they faced.
Responsible leadership builds leader-stakeholder relationships that add value to the parties.
Gordon Ramsey together with Jamie Oliver teamed up to raise awareness about
discarding of hundreds of thousands of salt water fish by spending time on a trawler. This show

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of concern for the environment also showed that the two leaders are responsible. It demonstrates
that the leaders are mindful of the environment and are willing to stop activities that harm the
environment (Henderson, 2011).
Why the two coaches or leaders do not get along
One of the reasons why Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver don’t get along is because of
differences in leadership style. Gordon Ramsey is known for his perfectionist attitude and short
temper unlike Jamie Oliver. This personality attribute makes it impossible for them to get along
as each has a different view of doing things. Jamie Oliver has also been noted as pointing out
that Gordon Ramsey is jealous of his success (Henderson, 2011). It is of note to point out that
Jamie Oliver has a much higher net worth at £240 million while Gordon Ramsey has a net worth
of about £67 million. Gordon Ramsey is also known to engage in callous language which Jamie
Oliver finds in appropriate. Gordon Ramsey has also accused Jamie Oliver of being more in sales
and marketing than in cooking (Henderson, 2011). Gordon Ramsey views Jamie Oliver as being
a bad cook. The last reason why they cannot get along is that chef Gordon Ramsey is focused on
being the best chef and making the best food while Jamie Oliver’s main focus is marketing and
sales to generate good returns on investment. Jamie Oliver has been able to establish a much
bigger empire than Gordon Ramsey. Gordon Ramsey failed in putting the necessary controls
which led to his business making an improper loan to his father in-law. Gordon Ramsey also fell
out with his father in –law who was in many ways one of his mentors. Gordon Ramsey is a
perfectionist who is concerned with being the best in the industry and has very limited
knowledge in managing a business empire (Henderson, 2011).
References

Beyer, P. D. (2010). Authentic leadership in-extremis: A study of combat leadership (Order No.

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3398746). Available from ABI/INFORM Complete. (275977077).