Team Happiness is a Leadership Choice not a Result
Happiness has not been on the agenda of traditional leadership, but thoughtful leaders have long realized it is an essential ingredient for long-term success. Happy team members go out of their way because they enjoy what they are doing and with whom, they are significantly more efficient, more loyal and much more committed. Their fun at work is also perceived by customers and triggers positive feelings in them. An engaging and empathic leadership style builds and nurtures a positive team culture which is inspiring, motivating, and supportive without losing sight of high expectations. Happiness and success go hand in hand.
This issue of the IEEE TEMS Leadership BRIEFS is about providing guidance for a variety of leadership challenges to help leaders build a more nurturing and supportive culture. Dietmar Scheja in his Leadership BRIEF shows how financial leadership is a systematic effort to make business decisions fact-based and sound, hence lending them consistency and rigor and keeping the underlying assumptions honest. In her Leadership BRIEF Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska demonstrates the role of media multiplatformization in brand management as an effective way to activate and engage diverse audiences. She shows how a carefully designed brand management strategy can help navigate modern brand ecosystems. Johannes Kern explains why in supply chain management it is imperative for leaders to identify the real job – that aligns the shipment to customer needs – before investing into expensive technology for real-time visibility. In their Leadership BRIEF Eduardo Ahumada-Tello and Rafael Ravina-Ripoll explore organizational efforts to consider happiness management as part of a holistic organizational strategy that establishes a direct relationship between the goals of companies and those that their employees have for their own lives.
The TEMS Leadership BRIEFS are a free membership benefit for all TEMS members. If you would like to contribute to the IEEE TEMS Leadership BRIEFS please contact me at sabine.baumann@jade-hs.de. I do hope this issue of the IEEE TEMS Leadership BRIEFS provides you with new ideas and actionable insights. Great leaders have engaged, happy and successful teams. Happiness starts with you!
Sabine Baumann, Editor-in-Chief
In this Issue
Dietmar Scheja – Financial Leadership: Driving Quality in Decision-Making
Financial Leadership is a systematic effort to make business decisions fact-based and sound, lend them consistency and rigor — usually via financial evaluation — and keep the underlying assumptions honest. It’s also the practice of taking decisions along these lines and of doing with care and urgency the things thus decided. This Leadership BRIEF demonstrates how Financial Leadership drives quality in decision-making and thereby produces more profitable decisions than less structured approaches.
Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska – Brand Management in the Age of Media Multiplatformization
Media multiplatformization has become popular in brand management because it provides an effective way to activate and engage diverse audiences. However, there are many challenges and pitfalls in successfully managing contemporary brands. This Leadership BRIEF offers a guideline how a carefully designed brand management strategy can help navigate modern brand ecosystems across multiple media platforms.
Johannes Kern – The Visibility Myth in Logistics or What is the Real Job to be Done?
Supply chain visibility is typically defined as tracking parts, components or products, ideally in real time, while in transit. However, in practice the objective is about knowing problems with the shipment early enough to avert delays at the final destination. This Leadership BRIEF explains why it is imperative to identify the real job – that aligns the shipment to customer needs – before investing into expensive technology for real-time visibility.
Eduardo Ahumada-Tello & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll – Rethinking Management Strategies: Happiness Management as an Innovative Approach to Leadership
In an increasingly automated and impersonal work environment it is important for leaders of technology companies to apply strategies that establish a direct relationship between the goals of companies and those that their employees have for their own lives. This Leadership BRIEF explores organizational efforts to consider happiness management as part of a holistic organizational strategy.
