Mark Zuckenberg’s Leadership, Essay Example

In the movie “The Social Network”, the development of an innovative company, and the leadership trait of Mark Zuckenberg is demonstrated. The below essay will review the main themes of the movie, and the motivation of both the main character and the customers. Further, the author of the current study would like to examine the internal and external factors that contributed towards the great success of Facebook around the world.

The Idea

The idea of creating Facebook was born when Zuckenberg realized that people (in this case Harvard students) were interested on people who are like them, and they can  relate to. By creating Facebook, he was able to fulfill students’ needs for self-actualization and esteem needs. Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people’s higher level needs are fulfilled by ideas and culture. Through creating a Facebook culture, Zuckenberg provided members with a “sense of belonging”. He is not a follower, but thinks about new ideas, and wants to create something that provides value for many people. After the initial mistake of hacking Harvard servers, he finally finds a way to

Participative Leadership

Throughout the movie, the leadership of Zuckenberg is described as participative. The entrepreneur is able to motivate others by creating, sharing, and discussing his ideas. He leads from the background, and takes a step back in order to see the whole picture, instead of getting lost in details. While he is the main driver of the company, and creates ideas, he realizes that he needs to improve his communication and leadership skills in order to motivate all employees. Further, he is able to admit his mistakes and understand the challenges he is facing before things would get worse.

The main leadership character of Zuckenberg is transformational. Once he realizes that Facebook makes a difference in many people’s lives, he takes on the responsibility, and is able to turn things around. Transformational leadership is able to create followers who share the ideas, motivations, values, and principles of the leader, therefore, through increased commitment he achieves higher than average results. Transformational leadership also involves idealized influence of attributes and behaviors.  Inspirational motivation is one of the major themes of the second part of the movie: it shows how Zuckenberg is able to share his enthusiasm about the ideas with other people, and allows individuals to participate in the creation of the product (service). Mark Zuckenberg found that brainstorming lessons with engineers are more effective for innovating a company than simply making a decision and trying to gain commitment afterward. The leadership trait of Zuckenberg also involves charismatic features: by allowing people to recreate their world on Facebook, he can find a way for change the way people live their lives. His main idea to keep in touch with people one can relate to serves two principles: exclusivity and individualism. His management style is highly democratic; he is not afraid of making mistakes, but admits them and finds a way to correct them.

The Facebook Culture

Facebook was originally created for college students, however, soon Zuckenberg realized that he needs to expand. The easy-going culture within the company, and campus is not only appealing for young people, but also those who are looking for ways of expressing themselves in a creative way. That means that Zuckenberg needs to expand Facebook beyond Harvard, and beyond college. The popularity of the website is increasing, because people can relate to the culture and idea on an emotional level. Further, Facebook fulfills people’s higher level of needs: self-esteem, and self-actualization. Based on the goal-setting theory, the main strength of Facebook’s strategy is that Zuckenberg was able to create and communicate clear, challenging goals that employees can connect with, and commit to. Further, by utilizing brainstorming lessons and employing participatory leadership, he gains commitment without having to convince stakeholders about the idea. Facebook, according to many authors, created a social revolution: changing the way people expressed themselves and communicated. At the same time, it is important to note that Zuckenberg also learned from the mistakes made by competitors, such as MySpace. He wanted to make Facebook different, and customer-focused.

Leadership Development and Zuckenberg

Zuckenberg is a typical entrepreneur in a way, while he is unique in other ways. He has a strong idea, to which he is committed to, and he believes in it. Indeed, when he has no funding for Facebook, and is contracted to create a Harvard network, he makes a decision based on his beliefs. He develops Facebook instead of the Harvard network. Still, he does not have an initial plan, and this causes difficulties. In the beginning, he believes that he needs more than a great idea to become a successful entrepreneur. In order to grow his business, he needs to improve his leadership, communication, and analytical skills. Without being able to secure funding, maintaining his personal, and the company’s reputation, he cannot make Facebook a success. Therefore, he realizes his flaws through self-awareness, builds on his strengths, and corrects his weaknesses. He learns to deal with personal attacks, not for himself, but in order to allow his idea to prosper. He keeps his focus on the main idea and goal, and this makes him a true entrepreneur.

Works Cited

Fincher, D. “The Social Network” 2010. Movie.