The Chinese Super League, before 2015 was a measly league based in China which was widely unknown outside of China and the subcontinent of South East Asia, until the super-rich owners of the football clubs started investing in foreign talent from the major leagues of football, especially targeting Europe, where football is most widely followed and somewhat considered the biggest game in the continent.[1]  Big name and big money signings such as the likes of Carlos Tevez, Oscar, Hulk and other such international superstars of the game have put the league into the spotlight for giving players extremely high wages and incentives to come play in their country and promote the game. [2]

Now this brings me to ask a dreadful question, does money play a role as a motivating factor for such players and does money trump the love for the game for the players, and their ambitions to improve themselves as players? The answer, sadly, is that money does matter more than the game to many players nowadays, and does act as the biggest motivation for some players looking to trump their love for the game and sell their souls to make easy money.

In addition to that, players look for other forms of extrinsic motivation over intrinsic motivation before making decisions on their future in the game they are to play with passion and for the love of the beautiful game, but do not. The formation of new leagues and teams around the world is helping promote the game around the globe, but the dirt that comes with the money is somehow splattered on the players faces and they eventually lose track of what they are essentially supposed to do on the pitch. This shows their attitude off the pitch as well, as younger players who earn extremely high wages lead reckless lifestyles and are literally moments away from destroying their careers in the sport.

[1] Akavoor, Sharad. “Chinese Super League: Is there more to the rising giant than the money?” The Indian Express. N.p., 13 Jan. 2017. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. <http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/chinese-super-league-money-transfers-spending-budget-4469432/>.

[2] West, Aaron. “The 13 highest-profile players to take their talents to the Chinese Super League.” FOX Sports. N.p., 23 Dec. 2016. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. <http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/gallery/biggest-players-chinese-super-league-transfers-hulk-ramires-graziano-pelle-121416>.

Uber, one of the world’s largest ride-sharing services has not fallen short with its hype and the problems such multinational firms face. One of the biggest problems they face is the fact that management for them is extremely hard as they don’t directly hire the cab drivers most of the times, especially in third world countries where people cannot afford to own their own cars and lent cars by the firm on an installment-based payment system.

But that is not the case I will be talking about. The biggest issue Uber faced recently was when the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Travis Kalanick was recorded yelling at and behaving in an extremely rude manner with a bankrupt driver working for the ride sharing service to earn his daily bread.[1]

My classmate, Johnny Lee spoke in his blog post on the topic[2], speaks about how the actions of the leader of an organization have a direct impact on the employees and daily functions of the firm. I believe that his statement may be partially true, because of the fact that even at the top the hierarchical system, the CEO is not able to directly influence every employee of the firm directly which makes his or her actions outside the workplace somewhat arbitrary to the actual running of the firm. Granted that what Kalanick did has brought a lot of backlash to the firm and has affected employees to a certain extent, the fact that the company is still running smoothly and everything has been contained shows that his leadership may be unethical but somewhat effective as the company is not facing a collapse.

Although, in my opinion, such acts should be contained and CEO’s of such firms should be ethical, whether in the workplace or outside, as they highlight the reputation of the firm and carry the values that are to be followed by its employees.

[1] Watson, Libby. “Billionaire Uber CEO Yells at Bankrupt Driver: ‘Some People Don’t Like to Take Responsibility’ [Update].” Gizmodo. Gizmodo.com, 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

[2] https://blogs.ubc.ca/johnnylee98/

When we talk about leadership, the first names that come to our mind are usually popular world leaders, well-known businessmen, Presidents and Prime Ministers of powerful nations, and other such examples. In a response to my friend Barry Le Kim’s blog post[1] on this topic, I’d like to point out that the skills he has mentioned leaders should have, or possess to make effective change and lead are not just learnt or known.

I would like to suggest the idea that leadership can also be innate, as the clichéd phrase says, “some men are born leaders”. This idea does hold true, in my opinion as many world leaders, who have absolutely no background in leadership do not need to develop such skills, but are born with it and just wait for the opportunity to show their leadership qualities. Take India’s current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came from humble beginnings, working as a tea seller in his youth, to becoming the Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat, and eventually becoming the Prime Minister of India, the world’s largest democracy. [2]

The traits mentioned by Barry Le Kim in his blog post that a leader should possess and hone depend on the type of leader we’re talking about, in reality. A leader may follow different kinds of leadership styles such as a parental approach, or a laissez-faire, but that does not mean he or she has learnt or practiced the kind of leadership throughout their careers as leaders, which brings me to say that I disagree which Barry’s statement, “leadership skills does not come from anywhere.”

[1] https://blogs.ubc.ca/barrylekim/

[2] Umar, Baba. “Modi: From tea boy to India’s leader.” Modi: From tea boy to India’s leader – Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera Media Network, 27 May 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/05/modi-from-tea-boy-india-pm-20145139742599119.html>.