Case Analysis. John Meredith of Hutchison Port Holdings

After reading the case about John Meredith, answer the following questions:
What were the factors that shaped Meredith leadership’s style?

- Meredith started his childhood with a trail of a long sea voyage from the UK to South
Africa and then they returned home with a mixture of fear and excitement feelings. The absence
of security at this voyage taught him to be independent at a very early age.
- He suffered from educational disadvantage which fueled his determination to succeed. The
short period of education made him feel inadequate in his life, so he wanted to prove his worth
and potential to his father who was a strict military man and to himself. Because of the Lack of
respect to his ability, he forced himself to work harder and he entered the Naval Academy.
- He started the long voyages at 15 years with different ships. He learned a lot about
patience. Those voyages were physically and mentally taxing which let him practiced the
responsibility at an early age.
- He was able to build social relationships with a big number of crew and passengers who
turn over frequently.
- At age of 24 to 27, he commanded large ships with cargo and hundreds of passengers. He
was learned to be calm under pressure, strong as much as possible, and decisive. His stature was
raised in the merchant navy and each ship was similar to a small city where there was too much
responsibility and privilege.
- Onshore leave, he worked in menial labor such as selling door-t-door products and a
hospital porter. After this experiment, he was humble and felt empathy with lower-ranked
people.
What behaviors did Meredith exhibit to build the company?

- In the first years of his business, he was involved in each activity even type company
invoices and he worked on weekends at the shipyard directing traffic. It was an initiating
structure category of behavior.
- After that, and from his seafaring experience that taught him respecting the opinions of
those under his command, he developed a mixture of accommodation (people-oriented behavior)
and authoritarian (task-oriented behavior). His strategy was gathering information and opinion
from his employees and make a clear decision to be applied. He sought an honest opinion from
his employees even form outside hid immediate circle, and he did not want them to give him
only what he wanted to hear but the honest opinions.
- He was influenced to some degree by Li-ka-Shing who was a forceful and individualistic
leader. He thought that it was an efficient style especially in situations that needed quick
decisions. Meredith could act quickly in his day-to-day management and expected change at any
time.
- He was very loyal to the workforce and believed in the importance of supporting rules. He
empathized with employees at all levels and took care of the wellbeing of his men. From the
people-oriented behavior concept, he thought that managers should deal directly with their
employees in hiring or correcting poor performance and not through other departments such as a
naval officer direct responsibility for sailors under his command.
- He broke the large company down into smaller pieces to allow each port to retain elements
of its own identity and avoid losing loyalty, pride, and motivation.
- He helped the middle or upper management positions to grow and increase responsibility
at other companies. People matter more than technology, and the future depends on them, so he
tried to develop and train them continuously and from different levels.
He was always searching for new opportunities depending on his employees form different
levels through brainstorming meetings that provided him with valuable ideas. He could change
his opinion about old ideas and accept change.
What general conclusions can you draw in term of leadership development?

Meredith was an independent, hard-worker, passionate, responsible, influencer, social, calm,
strong, and decisive leader. He owned the traits that a leader needs to be efficient and effective at
his work.
Besides, he succeeded in designing a suitable mixture of behavior categories. From autocratic to
democratic, from people-oriented to task and job-oriented, we found Meredith behaved as well
as the circumstances needed.
In my opinion, Meredith was a perfect leader with high-quality traits and appropriate behaviors.

Case Analysis. John Meredith of Hutchison Port Holdings

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After reading the case about John Meredith, answer the following questions:

What were the factors that shaped Meredith leadership’s style?

What behaviors did Meredith exhibit to build the company?

What general conclusions can you draw in term of leadership development?

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