MANAGEMENT AT WORK The Road to Leadership "Your title makes you a manager, people his cousins and other community members fighting to condecide if you're a leader." - tain the fiery aftermath. That event, of course, left an indel-Bill Campbell, Leadership Coach teamwork, community, and resillesting him the value of On November 14, 1970, a plane crash took the lives of 37 Smith graduated from Marshall in 1986, and later added Marshall University football players, their coach, and 27 a Michigan while working agement from Aquinas College in ocher staff and community members who were returning Michigan while working a full-time day job for Pepsi. After from a game in North Carolina. Brad Smith stood on a small a few career changes, he landed at Intuit in 2003. Smith hill near his hometown of Kenova, West Virginia, watching relations portore, Intuit asked timax business. Thanks to time to studying martial arts. By the time Smith was a senior his success there, the company's flagship to me to San Diego to he had earned his black belt, and soon after, he notes, "I was run Tur. In 2005, Smith moved to Silicon Valley tomer tax busi- teaching an entire school, with about 150 students. You get. ream that would fend off an attempt by Microsoft to lead a measured on the progress of the students you're teaching. market share from QuickBooks. Having proven that to steal It's no longer about your own abilities: it's about building the more than just a manager, the board of directors named him - capability in others. I fall back on that to this day." CEO in 2008, succeeding Intuit founder Scott Cook. College was formative as well. Of his alma mater, Smith As a leader, Smith melds innovation with profit-motive. says, "Marshall has a sense of purpose and values that 1 love. For instance, based on Google's innovative model, he Look at what it has accomplished since the plane erash. implemented unstructured time where employees can use 10 Champions aren't defined by whether they hit the canvas. percent of their time to work on any project they choose. His but by how quickly they get back up. Marshall University theory is sound. Smith says, ".. people who focus on things just perseveres. It's a university that has been hit with tragefficiency. We're also hoping to fosterinnovation-ifils and In late 2018, at the relatively young age of 54 and after go to narket, resulting in $100 million in new revenue. Survey Monkey, and pursue a passion for improving public in order to overcome the perception was to focus on design education, especially in often "overlooked" zip codes, like is boring and duh. He even reconfigured the layout of the certainly played a key role in the company's success so far, physical space within the organization, making fewer Smith would be the first to tell you that he didn't do it all cubicles and more open spaces, encouraging collaboration. on his own. One of his favorite quotes comes from Bill In 2015, his vision was to make Intuit one of the most design- Campbell, a well-known business coach and one of Smith's driven companies in the world by 2020, and although there early mentors, who said, "Your title makes you a manager, may be no objective measure of success for such a goal, people decide if you're a leader." Intuit's constant innovation and design strategies have paid off. When he took the helm of Intuit at the age of 43 , the company had 8,000 employees and annual revenues Case Questions of $2.6 billion. By early 2020 , as well as being a long-term 1. What personal traits does Brad Smith possess that aid member of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Places to Work," the him as a leader? Are these traits consistent with the company's revenues had tripled, and the stock price had risen early trait perspectives on leadership? from under $25 to over $260 per share (NASDAQ: INTU). 2. How would you describe Brad Smith's leadership style? Smith attributes his success as a leader to lessons he Which leadership concepts, models, or theories best gathered along the way; from his parents, who instilled a reflect how he leads? sense of community, family, and leadership, to his academic 3. Do you believe that Smith's gender played a part in his career: and to his extracurricular experiences, such as success? Why or why not? teaching martial arts. In high school, he'd played football 4. What are three important leadership lessons that you until his sophomore year when he decided to dedicate his can learn from Smith's career path? 1. What personal traits does Brad Smith possess that aid him as a leader? Are these traits consistent with the early trait perspectives on leadership? 2. How would you describe Brad Smith's leadership style? Which leadership concepts, models, or theories best reflect how he leads? 3. Do you believe that Smith's gender played a part in his success? Why or why not? 4. What are three important leadership lessons that you can learn from Smith's career path