MGT3LWM Leadership - Essay Help

Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to deconstruct the leadership style of Mark Cuban, a successful, self-made US businessman, a billionaire, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a potential presidential candidate for the upcoming United States elections. In lieu of his historical achievements it is indeed noteworthy. The model that will be used for analysis is the traits theory regarding which Mark Cuban’s business, personal and public profile will be assessed to gauge whether or not he is in reality a true leader by virtue of what the theory offers. 

Additionally, what is noteworthy also is a small link to the great man theory which finds itself interconnected with the traits theory. Mark Cuban showcases with his actions and attributes manifestations of how a great man behaves, from his very childhood to where he stands in his career now, his public profile also having been taken into account. The purpose of this paper is hence to study Mark Cuban with respect to his traits and understand how his internalizing of these traits has made him into becoming a great leader, fit to be analyzed as a role model to be followed by others. 

As per Forbes (2019), Mark Cuban stands at a current US $ 4.1 billion in net worth, after having a childhood where he sold stamps at the doorstep to sustain his student life-style. Forbes also notes that he co founded the video portal called “broadcast.com” in 1995 which was crucial to his growth, sold the company Microsolutions, a start-up which kick started his career as an investor. Additionally, Forbes also stresses upon his current ownership over the Dallas Mavericks and also his Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of the US soldiers or military personnel who were seriously injured or killed during combat which has donated upto $ 5 million for them. 

Body Content 

The deconstruction of Mark Cuban’s leadership style will be done structurally, firstly will be specific actions pertaining to the leadership model of the traits theory which will be analyzed. Following that, will his two key challenges and how he managed this be highlighted. How he could have dealt with them differently will also be analyzed. Lastly, what was learned by understanding this leadership style will be analyzed, along-with Mark Cuban’s leadership spectrum and capabilities. Evidence will be provided throughout the course of the deconstruction to complement the findings and strengthen the leadership theory in connection to the leadership personality in this case Mark Cuban. 

The original theory which will be addressed is that of Pervin (1994) who concludes that he trait theory is indeed useful, although having some loopholes. He predicts that common traits found in leaders are the reason behind them being successful leaders. Epstein (1994) takes this a step forward by illustrating how Pervin did the rudimentary work, and adds on top of his explanation, his own explanation which stresses upon the already mentioned total theory of personality while also considering 5 traits which are essential for success. Epstein notes that traits are as important and as strong as the whole, essentially meaning that if one possesses such traits, particularly orderliness they are bound to become great leaders and showcase immense success. 

According to Epstein (2010) who comes back with another piece of great analysis, the differences between Pervin and Block’s critiques can be understood, additional to Epstein’s own analyses which is based on the perils of adopting a purely descriptive approach to personality. Having the fundamental similar attitudes as other people such as eating, drinking, going to a good school or college are not precursors for successful leaders, simply because they have all these things in common. In fact, this worked in a reversed fashion with Mark Cuban who was not interested in going to a good college, and he dropped out only to attend a lower ranked one simply because it was cheaper. Hence, the purely descriptive approach is not used.

Extraversion is another trait highlighted by McCabe and Fleeson (2012) in that it integrates other leadership and personality traits to come together to make a strong leader with  a strong leadership style. Mark Cuban can be analyzed as having cultivated such a style, through the qualities of “orderliness” and extraversion”, the traits which helped him become the leader that he is today, and in this papers understanding of his leadership style. DeYoung (2010) illustrates the importance of traits in his work, also mentioning that in every person the same traits may also manifest differently, and so Mark Cuban’s representation can be understood via his life examples.