1.

0 Introduction
Understanding the different aspect of leadership such as characteristics, traits, styles and behaviors are important in gaining a holistic view of how a person develops oneself to become a successful leader. For this purpose two leaders from contrasting fields have be taken into consideration, one being a historic leader and the other an emerging leader. Ashroff Omar, the Chief Executive Officer of Brandix Lanka Ltd. was identified as an established leader who has established himself as a front runner in the local apparel industryThe traits, styles, strengths and weaknesses of these two personalities as leaders will be compared and contrasted in this report in order to obtain a broader understanding of the subject. Simple measures that could be taken to overcome their weaknesses and improve on their strengths are provided in order to assess how these two leaders could reach new feats of success.

Profile: Ashroff Omar

The Chief Executive Officer of Brandix Lanka Ltd, Mr.Ashroff Omar is a renowned and established figure in the local garment industry, taking the companys products to the world. Mr.Omar received his tertiary level education at Royal College Colombo where he served his alma mater as a prefect and a rugby player. According to Mr.Omar, his schooling career, during which he was foresight to his current successful was never After completing his G.C.E Advanced Level examination suspended thrice, position. a in 1976, Mr.Omar pursued his higher studies in Cost and Management Accountancy which is now commonly known as CIMA. However his academic career came to an abrupt halt. With a burning desire to enter into the export sector, Ashroff Omar put his studies on hold forever and began his career as the managing director of Lux shirts which was a small family owned manufacturing company. Mr.Omar attributes his professional success partly to his intrinsic family background in business. At the tender age of 21, Mr.Omar took up the directorial position in several acquisitions namely, Lux Shirts, Pheonix Fashions and Gil Garments. He was also involved with the groups first venture with Mast Industries. Thereafter he established Mast Lanka in 1993 which was the groups garment trading house. Mr.Omar was also instrumental in establishing Eden Fashions, Pte.Ltd in Maldives back in 1996, its first garment manufacturing company in Maldives. It was in 2002 that the company was renamed as Brandix. Today Brandix Lanka Ltd is Sri Lanka single largest exporter of apparel and is the holding company of the Brandix Group. Its impressive portfolio includes, Victorias Secret, Next, Marks & Spencer, Gap, Liz Claiborne and Abercrombie and Fitch. Mr. Ashroff Omars youthful passion to become a leader in exports has now put Sri Lanka on the map in the apparel industry. With companies such as Brandix India Apparel City in the port city of Visakhapatnam together with joint ventures such as American & Efird Lanka Ltd and T & S Buttons Ltd, Mr.Omar has truly revolutionized business in Sri Lanka. Mr. Ashroff Omar has also taken the initiative to employ hundreds of young women from rural areas and poor family backgrounds at Brandix. His effort to increase empowerment is significantly evident in the establishment of the Brandix College of Clothing Technology and Finitex Textile Finishing.

He also worked towards the development and the sustenance of the flourishing apparel industry in the island. Mr.Omar was instrumental in forming the Joint Apparel Association Forum of which his was the chairman during its inception. He is also the former chairman of the Sri Lanka Apparel Owners Association. Mr. Omar also serves as the non-executive director for the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Consul General for the Republic of Korea.

Personality Traits
Trustworthiness Mr.Ashroff Omar enjoys a good level of trustworthiness when dealing with his subordinates and peers. He possesses the ability to get into the shoes of another which therefore enables him to have different perspectives. This attribute of his has made him a leader who can be trusted to implement his promises which is evident through the low employee turnover at Brandix. Self Confidence Mr.Ashroff Omar is by nature a man with very high self confidence. His achievements up to now are an example of his self-motivated and driven personality. Not having completed his studies he always had a vision to enter the export industry and today he is the literally face of the Sri Lankan apparel industry. His confidence has influenced his precise decision making ability and his fearless behavior which has helped him to overcome obstacles successfully. Warmth Mr. Ashroff Omars charismatic behavior assists him to build a good rapport with his subordinates and work mates. He mentioned that follow up meetings for each project are held once a week which helps him to evaluate his employees progress within the organization. If required he provides constant motivation and emotional support to his teams. High Tolerance for Frustration Mr. Ashroff Omar is has a very high tolerance for frustration. The garment industry, like any other business, is heavily affected external forces such as recessions and political drawbacks. During the interview Mr.Omar stated that in certain instances there are implications in obtaining loans from banks due to economic factors while on the other hand there are constant deadlines to be met. This becomes an issue that leads to frustration especially when dealing with international buyers and dealers. Yet Mr.Omar believes that being on par with the environmental changes and implementing proper solutions in a patient manner has helped him in overcoming difficulties

Extroversion This is a personality trait that both Mr.Ashroff Omar and Ms.Varuni Amunugama possess. They are basically energized by being around people and therefore are very friendly. Ms.Varuni Amunugama has annual Christmas and New Year parties so that her employees can interact with each other on a social level. Mr.Omar constantly strives to convince those who work with him to share in his vision and goals sense of Humor A great sense of humor is another aspect that is common to Mr.Ashroff Omar and Ms.Varuni Amunugama. This was evident during the interviews conducted with them separately. Although they are leaders in their particular industries they had the ability to make us, the students feel comfortable in their board rooms. They spoke and shared information about themselves in a manner that was respectful, fun and realistic. Both Mr.Omar and Ms.Amunugama were able to interact with us by coming down to our level as undergraduate students rather than in a condescending manner. This is the case even in their day to day workplace activities. Both these leaders are open minded and understand the mentality of their employees which assists them to create a culture that is innovative, fun and daring. Flexibility & Adaptability Being the CEO of a leading company is not an easy task. There are moments when the CEO needs to be flexible but also firm. Mr.Ashroff Omar enjoys flexibility with his subordinates but also believes that firmness during certain instances is required. He is firm when meeting deadlines and perusing a task. He also believes in having a firm goal but is flexible when dealing with people in achieving that end result. He is also adaptable to change and firmly believes that forces in the external environment can bring a business to its knees therefore as a leader he needs to constantly be on par with transformations. Locus of Control Mr. Ashroff Omar is a man with internal locus of control. He believes that an individual should be in control of ones decisions, talents, skills and ideas that will shape the future. He is of the opinion that fate is in a persons hand and it can be decided through hard work and determination. But at the same time he also believes that external forces can control a mans destiny. He knows that the environment in which he operates is a dynamic one which is always subjected to change. Mr.Omar feels that luck to plays an important role in a persons life although depending too much on it would be unhealthy.

Risk Taking Ability Mr.Ashroff Omar amd Ms.Varuni Amunugama firmly believe that in order to survive in the world of business it is imperative to take risks. Mr. Omar hardly rejects new projects and enjoys facing challengers because it contributes to his competitiveness. This is evident through the many international ventures that he has established such as Eden Fashions, Pte.Ltd in Maldives back in 1996, the Brandix India Apparel City in the port city of Visakhapatnam and many other joint ventures with renowned buyers and suppliers. However he believes that a person should not be an overzealous risk taker as it can jeopardize the organization. Therefore it is important to strike a balance. Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence is vital for leaders as they need to know not only how to manage their own emotions but also the emotions of others. EI is a trait which Omar possess which is also an ingredient to the success. The ability to create a passion and then motivate himself to drive that passion through the involvement of people is evident through his business empires.

Leadership style of Mr. Ashroff Omar Being the CEO of Brandix Group of Sri Lanka, in the industry of apparels where consumer demands are constantly changing and competition is fierce, Mr. Ashroff Omar can be regarded as both authoritarian and a delegative leader who provides clear expectations to his group members on what should be done, when it should be completed and how it should be accomplished. However delegating authority to his subordinates to make decisions in complex or sensitive situations is a style that Mr.Omar cultivates. He believes that getting the right decision made by the right and the most competent person is of utmost importance. As he stated, empowering subordinates and delegation is not an issue for him as long as it is being placed on the qualified person who is skillful in attaining the set out targets at Brandix. However he also reflected that through 360 Degree interviews with his peers, subordinates and friends it was revealed that during certain instances he also possessed a dominating personality especially when it comes to interacting and decision making. Mr.Omar saw this as a main weakness in his leadership style and his personal life. Taking the above into consideration it could be concluded that Mr. Ashroff Omar is an authoritarian and a delegative leader based on his personal characteristics and chosen decision making style by him. Leadership Managerial Grid People Orientation Vs Task Orientation Mr. Ashroff Omar has a unique way of giving priority to the completion of tasks. He believes that different people can do different tasks, therefore allocate work according to the ability of individuals. This system suggests that he is both a task and people oriented person. Thus analyzing in a broader perspective and with the industry he is involved in it is clear that he needs to be more of a task oriented person as apparel sector consists mainly of processes. Therefore with relevance to the Managerial Grid as illustrated below, Mr.Omar ranks high in concern for production but is average in concern for people. Empowerment

Omar encourage the idea of empowering their subordinates to achieve organizational success. Since there are more than 100 employees in the Triad and Brandix group there has to be a lot of empowering and delegation among the organization. For omar empowering has not been an issue as he continue to sustain subordinates and peers by providing the vocational and educational training that is necessary to increase performance. For instance Mr.Ashroff Omar established the Brandix College of Clothing Technology and Finitex Textile Finishing which provides young women from mainly rural backgrounds with vocational training. Especially in the apparel industry where most of the labor is delivered by young women from illiterate and lower income level backgrounds it is necessary to train and foster their abilities. Empowering employees leads to organizational success in the long run. Strengths of the Leaders Mr. Ashroff Omar who hails from a business background initially did not have the interest to work. Nevertheless a desire to be involved in the export sector changed his mind. He sort his fathers assistance and went onto establish his own company. This was the stepping stone of his professional career. Mr.Omar went onto manage and acquire several companies while working for his family business. Mr.Ashroff Omar was strongly influenced by his expertise and as stated before family background. He used the expertise which he gained in his fathers small family business gradually build an empire and an image in the apparel sector. This made up for the absence of a proper educational qualification after completing his tertiary education. Continuous experiments, taking up managerial positions and learning through trial and error helped Mr.Omar to develop his career thereby becoming a strength in his professional life. Mr.Ashroff Omar too possessed the drive and passion to excel in the chosen industry. He always believes in igniting the fire of interest within himself and using it as a driving force in achieving goals or overcoming obstacles.

Weaknesses Mr.Ashroff Omar believes that his main drawback is the lack of communication with others. Mr.Omar knows that communication I important when leading a team because as a leader being at the top of the communication network is essential. However he notes that his failure to be in touch with the communication network on certain instances makes him unaware of the changes or progresses within the team. He drew on the example of communicating with all the divisions in the organization and the inability to be in touch with just one organization such as the finance department can be detrimental. He also says that through personal analysis and 360 degree interviews involving peers and employees, he identified that dominance is another weakness. Mr.Omar finds his dominance over others a drawback which needs to be overcome for it also leads to a lack of communication with subordinates. Losing focus when executing a task is another weakness that is evident in Mr.Omar. Although Mr.Omar is task oriented and believes in successfully executing tasks in order to achieve a goal, he also feels that he has the tendency to lose focus. For instance he said that during initial stages of a project is highly excited and interested but gradually loses interest after some time. A weakness that Mr.Omar wanted to overcome is the constant delving too deep into problems and thereby becoming too immersed in a problem which would lead to once again a lack of focus.

8.0 Improvements
Mr.Ashroff Omar Mr. Omars main weakness as pointed out earlier is his lack of communication skills. He accepts the fact that his communication skills are weak; this is a good sign as it is easier to change oneself when one identifies ones weaknesses. Mr. Omars lack of proper communication skills can be attributed another weakness which is his dominating personality. Therefore we suggest that Mr. Ashroff Omar should try to reduce his dominating style of leadership which can be done by attempting to always lend an ear to what his colleagues have to say. He has to be more open to suggestions from his subordinates so that he can build a strong relationship with his employees. This will also assist him to become approachable.Another weakness that was highlighted was that Mr.Omars quick loss of interest in a project. The interest that he has at the beginning of the project is not maintained until the end. In order to overcome this we suggest that, after a new project comes up, Mr.Ashroff should make sure that he has review meetings at least every week so that he is always involved with the project. He should also attempt to keep any new ideas or new projects on hold

until the current project is properly executed.