Transformational Leadership at B-F

After three weeks of working at Brown-Forman, I have observed both transformational leadership and transactional leadership. In this post, I will focus on transformational leadership. Usually, transformational leaders offer a purpose that transcends short-term goals and focuses on higher order intrinsic needs. I have seen Matt Bazeley be focused on how often and it what ways he is able to interact with his subordinates. Like I said in my first post, he is able to keep up with what accomplishments the other employees get in the field through Chatter, and he checks those posts nearly every morning. Matt has also been forward-thinking in trying to give interns the best experience for them, personally. I have my own projects that I will be working on for the company, but Matt also wants me to learn as much as I can while I am working there. In other words, he is showing me individualized consideration, which is one of the four dimensions of transformational leadership.

I have also witnessed another dimension, inspirational motivation, from both Matt and Gavin Klein, Queensland’s on-premise sales manager. Gavin works under Matt, as Matt is the national on-premise manager. Both have shown how they are able to articulate a vision that is appealing and inspiring to follow. This vision is about how it is not all about the sales and the numbers. Instead, a major part of working for B-F On-Premise is fostering relationships with the customers and having B-F products be a part of everyone’s night out. Sean, a sales executive that works under Gavin, said when he first started working at Brown-Forman, Gavin told him he was not concerned about Sean making a lot of contracts in his first year. Instead, Gavin wanted Sean to focus on forming relationships with the customers to show them that we want them to succeed, and in turn that helps us succeed.