Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Study Case

Running head: LESLIE BRINKMAN AT VERSUTIA CAPITAL STUDY CASE 1
Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Study Case
This study source was downloaded by 100000825287459 from CourseHero.com on 04-28-2022 13:29:18 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/64251153/Leslie-Brinkman-at-Versutia-Capital-Study-Casedocx/
LESLIE BRINKMAN AT VERSUTIA CAPITAL STUDY CASE 2
Abstract
Leslie Brinkman is the founder and CEO of a hedge fund company called Versutia Capital.
Leslie is the younger of two sisters. She grew up in a middle-class family in Potomac, Maryland.
Her father was first a stockbroker for Dean Witter in the 1960s and then an economist for the
Department of Transportation. Her mother was a budget analyst for the FDA. is a Leslie spent
some time assembling her team and launched early 2003. She started the firm doing well in the
beginning, but in 2005 her business began to suffer, the case show how did her management style
impacted her, and her team dynamics.
Keywords: Management Style; Organizational Design; Performance Improvement;
Leadership; Self-Awareness; Leadership Presence
Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Case Study
This is a case study about Leslie Brinkman and how she ran her business. I will talk about
some steps on how she could have avoided some of the issues she had faced during her career in
running Versutia Capital. I shall address the main idea, self-awareness, leadership presence, and
managing individuals using organizational behavior.
Leslie’s Issues
Leslie Brinkman, CEO and founding partner of the hedge fund, Versutia Capital, sat in
her comfortable new office on Fifth Avenue in New York City. She felt awful. Leslie did not
understand how Versutia’s performance could have deteriorated so rapidly. (Battilana & Kaplan,
2019). When Leslie founded the competition she created a team of people, she was 29 when she
started the company and became the portfolio manager, she also hired a 29 years old Peter
Wilson as her first industry analyst, 25 years old Joan Sullivan as her second industry analyst, a
38 years old Kevin Blake as industry analyst, a 34 years old Michael Ben as her trader, and
finally she hired Simon Ryley, 30 years old, as CFO
Leslie decided that everyone is equal and have no titles or level of hierarchy at the firm,
which it might be her first mistake; each person could report directly to her. Leslie decided that
everyone has a minimum percentage in the firm’s profit on their contract, and she would give
them compensation based on her assessment of their overall performance. Everyone was
overpaid, issue number two, and hoped to continue to be still overpaid. Leslie was giving many
orders and overworking her employees, and it was frustrating to them, issue number three, and
she could not figure out why people were not performing their best and keep asking “why” to
them when the market goes down, and there is no actual reason at that moment.
The office is small, Issue number four, in which people could hear Leslie arguing or
shouting at other people in the office. The staff would start working from 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM,
especially the Industry analysts, and communicate via BlackBerry even if they are off work
because Leslie control 100% of compensation the employees used to talk about who is in and
who is out at any given moment. Kevin Blake, the experienced analyst, decided to quit the job,
issue number five, because had problems with Leslie because she was young woman; however,
Leslie believe he left because he is costumed to work in big firms and not in a firm where he
have to do everything himself, and the firm trader also left. Therefore, she decided to hire two
more people to replace them. Those are all examples of issues that Leslie either handled wrong
or she did not know what to do.
Addressing and Solving the First and Second Issue.
Leslie decided to take on much pressure by not creating hierarchy in her office where
everyone had to report to her, and she chose to be the Portfolio Manager of the company. Leslie
had enough self-awareness but not high enough, “Self-awareness extends to a person’s
understanding of his or her values and goals. Someone who is highly self-aware knows where he
is headed and why.” (Goleman, 2018). Leslie has the goal for her company that should achieve,
and she made it clear to her team. However, she failed to understand other people feelings.
She was so self-centered that she forget one of her own rules, “Ego is not your friend”
(Battilana & Kaplan, 2019). She is also in control of everyone’s compensation. I feel if she hired
more people and decided to pay their regular salary, other than overpaying them and overwork
them and expect them to work hard, she would let the manager do their jobs and take off her
stress.
If she wanted to establish good leadership, she should have told each individual their own
goal by being a visionary, “taking an enterprise view that focuses less on ourselves and more on
the wider organization. Another part of being visionary develop the ability to articulate
aspirations for the future and a rationale for transformation.” (Shambaugh, 2018) her goals were
not entirely clear, plus she made everyone overworked and tired that they felt they are doing a
job of four people.
Addressing Third Issue.
Leslie’s employees are frustrated with how she is overworking them and all the yelling
that they could hear from her office. Which created much tension in the office, and no one knew
how to talk to her. She caused two of her best workers to quit the job because she did not
understand them at all. For example, Kevin Blake, the experienced analyst, decided to leave and
find another job elsewhere to make because he did not know how to deal with Leslie at all. The
reasons that he left were for the following purpose, “Too few growths and advancement
opportunities, feeling devalued and unrecognized, stress from overwork and work-life
imbalance, and lost the trust and confidence in senior leaders.” (Ross, 2019)..
Kevin Blake had the most experience in his field, and there was no room to become the
head of the analyst or something like that. It was believed he didn’t respect Leslie due to her age
and her lack of experience as a leader. She had them report to her daily, but it was not to expand
their skillsets nor empowering them to do more.
However, it was too demanding for them to work harder, she ran the risk to lose her
employees, and she did lose two of her hardest workers if she could have created more friendly
office and connected with them on a personal level and joined them in life outside of work for a
little bit.
Addressing Fourth and Fifth Issue.
The employees are scared to confront Leslie because they do not know how to respond to
her when she is shouting at them or other people. The employees should have done something
like this, “Help [her] recognize [her] impact on others. Show [her how] urgent employees
collaborate pays off for everyone—including [herself].” (Kislik, 2019)
She acts as if everything is urgent if she took slowly; maybe, she would never feel
stressed about work, nor be mad at her employees. Some of her employees should feel empathy
for her and how external pressures she is getting from people that helped her build the company.
She is having hard time to reassure them that is everything okay that she take her frustration
sometimes on her employees.
By the end of the case, she started to do some self-reflection. She had a hard time like
other leaders like her have a hard time to reflect and, “They don’t understand the process, nor
they don’t know how to reflect. They don’t like the process, and they don’t like to slow down or
adapt their mindset of not knowing and take personal responsibility. They don’t usually like the
result. When they take time to reflect, they quickly dismiss the noted strength and dislike the
noted weaknesses that they become defensive. They tend to have a bias towards action. People
tend to feel better when they do something when doing nothing might be a better option.”
(Porter, 2019)
Solution.
Leslie should be more self-aware and build a good relationship with the employees and
expand her company a little bit more and create a hierarchy for her business. For Leslie to
become a better leader, she needs to step down a little by creating more job opportunities for her
employees and creating more dynamic and goals to be achieved by her employees.
She would have a better company if she paid everyone the correct amount of salary and
not risk the company by overpaying them on a job that requires more than one person to achieve.
She should do the following, “ Practice empathy, which is the first step is to consider the
external pressures [her employees] are under. Consider [their] role by acknowledging that [she]
might be doing something wrong, figuring out what it is, and adjusting accordingly, [she] might
be able to salvage the relationship.” (Vries, 2019)
Conclusion
To be a better leader and run a company, I should create a hierarchy that it would
motivate my employees pursuing their positions and dreams, and pay them according to their
talents, and not overpay them. I should also create a friendly atmosphere and have a bigger office
to work, and when I have a side conversation with an employee, no one should be able to hear
my conversation with them to refrain from public embarrassment or to shame in the office. I
should also teach my employee self-awareness and help them create a good relationship with me.
Try and split the jobs fairly; that way, no one is overworked and creates more positions as the
business is growing.
References
Battilana, J., & Kaplan, R. S. (2019). Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital. Harvard Business
Publishing, 1-13.
Goleman, D. (2018). The First Component of Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence:
Self Awareness, 1-10.
Kislik, L. (2019). How to Manage Someone Who Thinks Everthing is Urgent. Emotional
Intelligence: Dealing With Difficult People, 107-116.
Porter, J. (2019). Why You Should Make Time for Self-Reflection (Even if You Hate Doing It).
Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness, 75-86.
Ross, J. A. (2019). Dealing With the Real Reason People Leave. 1-5.
Shambaugh, R. (2018). To Sound Like a LEader, Think About What You Say, and How amd
When You Say It. Emotional Intelligence: Leadership Presence, 23-34.
Vries, K. (2019). Do You Hate Your Boss? (H. B. Press, Ed.) Dealing with Difficult People, 117-
136.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Study Case

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Study Case

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Running head: LESLIE BRINKMAN AT VERSUTIA CAPITAL STUDY CASE 1

Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Study Case

Leadership; Self-Awareness; Leadership Presence

Leslie Brinkman at Versutia Capital Case Study

managing individuals using organizational behavior.

finally she hired Simon Ryley, 30 years old, as CFO

or she did not know what to do.

Addressing and Solving the First and Second Issue.

their skillsets nor empowering them to do more.

Addressing Fourth and Fifth Issue.

collaborate pays off for everyone—including [herself].” (Kislik, 2019)

sometimes on her employees.

be able to salvage the relationship.” (Vries, 2019)

Goleman, D. (2018). The First Component of Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence:

Self Awareness, 1-10.

Intelligence: Dealing With Difficult People, 107-116.

Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness, 75-86.

When You Say It. Emotional Intelligence: Leadership Presence, 23-34.

You might also like