Week 5 at Comcast: Leader/Follower Relationships

As the biggest company in Philadelphia, Comcast has a very detailed and intricate organizational chart in our employee portal that shows each employee where they fit into the big picture. I report directly to a senior director, one of six in my Call Center Sales department. Those six leaders report to one Senior Vice President (SVP), and the list goes up from there. My boss, one of the six senior directors, utilizes a very transactional leadership style. He tells me what to do and when to get it done by (usually for his steering committee meeting with the other five directors and our SVP). In talking to other interns on the other teams, it seems like their bosses lead in a very transactional way as well. Marge however, our SVP, is one of the most transformational and charismatic leaders I have ever met in the workplace. She is confident, powerful, well-spoken, and, in all honesty, very intimidating. She recently spoke to the entire intern class, not just our department’s interns, on building and maintaining our own personal brand. She inspired and mobilized her audience to be mindful of their actions both inside and outside the office and on social media as well. She has never told me what to do as an intern on her team, but with every decision I make, I keep her and her message in mind.

In terms of decision-making in the office, I’d say it is mostly centralized and coming from the top down. Any company initiatives start from the top and work their way to me at the bottom. Our “Go Big” project within our department was spearheaded by Marge and her peers in the consumer services section of Comcast’s business. It’s my job along with our six directors’ jobs to ensure that project runs smoothly and according to corporate liking. In a more general light however, Comcast is a very inclusive company that values input from all employees. There is an online idea portal where employees can visit and submit ideas for projects or identify key trends moving forward. In that communal, more general sense, Comcast can be a very decentralized organization. From my personal experience though, I receive orders from the top and execute them the best I can to land more on the carrot side of transactional followership.