From the media-monitor list at work, here’s an article on leadership styles from the Harvard Business School.
An interesting quote:
At the core of empowering leadership is the ability to energize the people in a company. Jack Welch commented, “You may be a great manager, but unless you can energize other people, you are of no value to General Electric as a leader.”
One angle that I think this article misses on is the idea of “Total Leadership”, also known as “Situational Leadership”. The author speaks of five distinct leadership styles, which he considers different approaches or different philosophies of leadership. Situational Leadership, or what I personally refer to as Total Leadership, consists in utilizing any and all of the styles depending on the necessity. They are merely tools by which to exert influence. I think that this way of understanding the situation comes from the idea of leadership deriving from transformation rather than technique. Leadership does not arise from what you do, it’s primarily a product of what you are. What you do is secondary to that.
With that caveat in mind, check out the article:
HBS Working Knowledge: Leadership: Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?
