Ben Kaufman is the CEO of Kluster, a web-based company that invites individuals and companies to send in ideas for new products. At age 17, Kaufman started his career as a web designer, but soon became bored with that. At 18, he came up with a new idea for a lanyard with integrated headphones to be used with the iPod, and that was the start of mophie, a company that makes a line of iPod accessories. At Macworld 2007, Kaufman tried something new: a community-based decision-making process he calls “the illuminator project.” At the show, he handed out sketch pads to attendees and invited them to design new products for mophie. Within three days, the company had three new products, and released them two months later. Although Kaufman considered that he was heading up a product development company, he eventually had to admit that all of his products were iPod accessories, and he did not want to be that limited. Kaufman sold the mophie brand in 2007 and launched Kluster. Kluster gives consumers the opportunity to influence new products and marketing strategies using the approach established in the illuminator project. At Kluster, instead of a bunch of marketing people trying to figure out new products and how to market new products, consumers are invited to share their ideas and give feedback, which brings them into the product development cycle. Andres Arango is the design coordinator at Kluster. He coordinates the activity of Kaufman and the top designers at the company. Arango says that Kaufman has weird charisma and vision. When Kaufman originally told Arango about the illuminator idea, Arango thought it was a little crazy. But he also thought the project was revolutionary, and that is why he joined the company. Peter Wadsworth, an engineer at Kluster, says that Kaufman realizes that he is not a manager, and that is why Kaufman demoted himself to bring in a seasoned leader. The company needed good management in order to get venture capital and to make sales. Wadsworth says that Kaufman is confident, but Kaufman realized that other people just saw a teenage kid running amok with other people’s money. Kaufman gets a lot of praise, but he does not have a big head about it. At the same time, he is not intimidated about meeting with celebrities or CEOs because he thinks everyone is equal. Kaufman does not strive for consensus, and being popular is not a concern of his. He knows his limitations and skills. He will not tell someone else what to do with their skill set. His communication ability is not always the best, and he does not often praise employees for good work, but he does give them a lot of leeway to work on projects when he sees that they are doing a good job. Kaufman does not hesitate when he makes decisions, and he is prepared to live with the consequences of his decisions. Wadsworth says he would not trust Kaufman to take care of his dog, but he does trust him to make good decisions on the big issues that affect the company. Kaufman says that he closely supervises people in the company. He says he is a “madman.” He wants to make sure that his employees are happy (or at least sort of happy). He does not know whether or not he is a good leader. He leaves that judgment to others.
1. What is the difference between leadership and management? Is Kaufman a leader? A manager? Both? Neither? Explain your reasoning.
2. Describe the leadership style of Ben Kaufman in terms of the behavioural theories of leadership described in this chapter. What are his leadership strengths and weaknesses?
3. Using a contingency theory of your choice, determine which style of leadership Ben Kaufman should be using.
4. What is the difference between transformational leaders and transactional leaders? What kind of leader is Kaufman? Explain your reasoning.
5. What do you think makes a good leader? Is it vision or is it the ability to manage effectively? Which quality do you think founder Ben Kaufman has?
6. Reflect on why the ability to make solid decisions and stick with them is so important for a leader. What do these qualities mean for the firm?
7. How important is founder Ben Kaufman’s self-confidence to his ability to lead his organization?
8. Ben Kaufman founded Kluster and for a period of time was CEO of the organization. Why did Kaufman relinquish his position as CEO? What did this move mean for the organization?