Transformational Leader - Andy Grove

Transformational Leader – Andy Grove
By: Alexander Brik

      Intel has grown into the world’s largest chipmaker, with 78,000 employees and more than $30 billion in annual revenues. A company usually has to have a leader to achieve such prosperity; for Intel, it was transformational leader Andy Grove. Current Chairman and former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove inspired his Intel employees constantly by sharing with them a brilliant vision.
      His vision? The microprocessor. A technology which involves millions of transistors being etched on one tiny wafer of silicon. Dubbed by Time Magazine as the “world's most important product,” microprocessors are what changed computers from giant boxes studied by men in lab coats, to consumer products such as laptops and smartphones. In 1971, the first microprocessor (Intel 4004) was released, and the high-tech industry was created.
      Andy Grove is proof that great transformational leaders can build their vision and charisma on top of   a foundation of transactional leadership. “He has a courageous passion alloyed with an engineer's analytic coldness,” (Watter Isaacson, Time Magazine). He likes to call his style of management “high output management.” Andy always wants to make sure that his employees, as well as his corporation, are being very productive and   meeting deadlines (task-oriented   management). However, there is more to Andy Grove’s leadership than just high output;   he is is mostly a transformational leader. A true visionary, those that work under him can’t help but to see his vision too, and therefore share his motivation and drive.
      Grove is also very charismatic.   A Hungarian refugee who grew up having to deal with World War 2 and the USSR, many people find he symbolizes the American Dream. Grove spent a lot of his time as Intel CEO battling prostate cancer; he even researched prostate cancer, and read up on its treatments, so he could decide what his treatment would be. His strength of will and...