Superior Leader

Select a superior leader & discuss the personality and sucess of that peson. Selected person Russell Simmons

Superior Leaders

Russell “Rush” Simmons experienced his first hip-hop show in 1977. Simmons enrolled as a student at the City College of New York when he began work in the hip-hop business. In 1978, Simmons began promoting his own hip-hop shows, managing hip-hop artists, and producing records (University of Delaware News Releases, 2003). Simmons co-wrote a single with an artist he was managing by the name of Kurtis Blow. The single, Christmas Rappin’, released in 1979 gave Simmons the foundation to pursue his vision further. Simmons quit school right before graduation. By 1982, he founded Rush Artist Management. He began managing other hip-hop pioneers such as Run-DMC and Whodini. Simmons vision was to make hip-hop as mainstream as other African-American music. Simmons met a producer Rick Rubin who shared his vision and appreciation for hip-hop. The men decided to pursue their vision and start their own record label. Each invested a few thousand dollars to start Def Jam in 1984 (Allmusic, n.d.). Def Jam remains one of the top three record labels. Simmons no longer owns Def Jam records but still holds a nominal chair (VH1, n.d.; Allmusic). Simmons, now 48 years old, is worth approximately 500 million dollars. He is the chairperson and chief executive of Rush Communication that houses a multitude of business venues. Those venues include a management company, a production company, clothing line, television shows, an advertising agency, and a magazine (Wikipedia Encyclopedia, n.d.). The Def Jam record label and the Phat Farm clothing line are the business decision that made Simmons more of a household name. The record label and clothing line are of the most successful of their kind (Berfield, 2003).

Simmons has proven himself as a superior business leader. He has surpassed his and others expectations of what he would be able to accomplish. He taught himself to be a successful entrepreneur (Berfield, 2003). His fantasy and assertiveness to make hip-hop mainstream has made him the success he is today. Simmons has some traits of impulsiveness because he does not attach himself to one business. He admits that some investments he makes are risky (Wikipedia, 2006). Simmons has capitalized from those investments because corporations where either unwilling or do not want to take the risk of certain investments. The bulk of Simmons investments start with the hip-hop culture or urban neighborhoods. His trait of impulsiveness also influences his openness to experiences. Simmons influence in corporate America is uncanny. The bulk of the major corporations want to be part of the hip-hop culture consumers. Simmons

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