ABSTRACT
Tiger leadership consists of a variety of elements and mechanisms, including charisma, corporate values, ambitious goal setting, and crisis creation. In Korean firms, charismatic business leaders who have the capability to strongly motivate managers and employees and are willing to fully dedicate themselves to the realization of their bold visions are prevalent and effective. Corporate values are strongly aligned with the personal values of business leaders and operationalized in training programs and staff directions, resulting in a good alignment between leaders’ values and corporate cultures. Ambitious and specific goals are given to business units and managers at all levels to motivate them. Finally, Korean business leaders seek to maximize the performance of companies and employees by instilling a sense of crisis in order to prevent complacency, or even by creating a real crisis through bold ventures which could threaten the existence of companies if they cannot be successfully implemented. The strong leadership of Korean business owners and executives is supported by a high acceptance of top-down directions, following Confucian cultural traditions, and by effective teamwork among employees where strong individual ambition is combined with pulling together with colleagues in order to achieve common corporate goals. Furthermore, central staff organizations have also contributed to the effectiveness of chaebol owners’ leadership.
