Snapshots of Great

Leadership

LEADERSHIP: Research and Practice Series

A James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership Collaboration
SERIES EDITORS
Georgia Sorenson, Ph.D, Research Professor in Leadership Studies, University of Maryland and Founder of the James MacGregor Burns Academy
of Leadership and the International Leadership Association
Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D, is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and
Organizational Psychology and former Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College
Bligh-Riggio (Eds.), Exploring Distance in Leader-Follower Relationships:
When Near is Far and Far is Near
Howell, J. P., Snapshots of Great Leadership

Snapshots
of Great
Leadership
Jon P. Howell
Professor Emeritus, New Mexico State University
College of Business

First published 2013

by Routledge
711 Th ird Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2013 Taylor & Francis
The right of Jon P. Howell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyrights, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Howell, Jon P.
Snapshots of great leadership / Jon P. Howell.
p. cm (Leadership: research and practice ; v. 2)
1. Leadershi Case studies. I. Title.
HM1261.H69 2012
303.34 dc23
2012005619
ISBN: 978-0-415-62482-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-87217-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-10321-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond and Optima
by EvS Communication Networx, Inc.

To my sweetheart, Julie.

Contents
Series Foreword .............................................................................................. xi
Preface ..........................................................................................................xiii
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................xv
References and Source Material for this Book .......................................... xvii
About the Author ......................................................................................... xix

Part I

Theoretical Basis of Leadership ................................................1

1 Theories of Leadership ..........................................................................3
Part II

Snapshots of Great Leadership ...............................................33

2 Steve Jobs CEO and Cofounder of Apple Inc. ..................................35
3 Anita Roddick Founder and CEO of The Body Shop.......................41
4 Ernest Shackleton Antarctic Explorer ..............................................45
5 Mother Teresa Servant of the Poor ...................................................51
6 Abraham Lincoln 16th President of the United States .....................56
7 Pat Summitt Womens Basketball Coach .........................................63
8 Leymah Gbowee Liberian Leader of Women in Peacebuilding
Network.............................................................................................. 68

vii

viii

Contents

9 Nelson Mandela Human Rights Leader and President of South

Africa ...................................................................................................74

10 Geronimo Apache Native American War Leader .............................83

11 Winston Churchill British Prime Minister, Wartime Leader,
and Statesman .....................................................................................89

12 Vince Lombardi Professional Football Coach ................................ 97

13 Napoleon Bonaparte French Military and Political Leader ...........103
14 Mary Kay Ash Founder and CEO of Mary Kay Cosmetics.............109
15 Nicolas Hayek Swiss Watch Executive ...........................................114
16 Csar Chvez American Labor Leader ...........................................121
17 Konosuke Matsushita Japanese Industrial Leader .........................129
18 Bill Wilson Cofounder and Leader of Alcoholics Anonymous ......136
19 Mark Zuckerberg Facebook Creator and CEO ..............................144
20 Martin Luther King, Jr. American Civil Rights Leader .................152
21 George Washington First President of the United States ...............160
22 Luiz Incio Lula da Silva President of Brazil .................................168
23 Mohandas Gandhi Indian Political and Spiritual Leader .............176
24 Sitting Bull Sioux War Chief..........................................................184
25 Indra Nooyi CEO of PepsiCo Inc...................................................195
26 Horatio Nelson Vice Admiral of the British Royal Navy .............. 200
Part III

Snapshots of Bad Leadership ................................................211

27 Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 .......213

Contents

ix

28 Albert Dunlap Corporate Executive ..............................................225

29 Idi Amin President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979 .........................233
30 David Koresh Religious Cult Leader............................................. 240
31 Kenneth Lay CEO of Enron Corporation ..................................... 248
Index ............................................................................................................ 257

Table
1.1 Matrix of Great Leadership and Leadership Theories ...................... 26

Series Foreword
Leadership is a very popular topic, with hundreds of research articles and dozens
of scholarly books published each year. Much of this scholarship, however, is
focused narrowly on business leadership. Our intent with this new book series,
Leadership: Research and Practice, is to expand the boundaries and include
scholarly work from the wide range of disciplines and professions that study and
practice leadership. In addition to business leadership, you will see authored and
edited books from political science, the humanities, psychology, sociology, the
arts, and importantly, the professions. We will publish scholarly collections, but
also practical guidebooks that are soundly based in research.
We are very pleased to present one of the first books of the series, Jon P.
Howells Snapshots of Great Leadership. There is a long history of presenting stories
of leaders and their great challenges as a way of illustrating leadership theories
and concepts, and it remains a favorite approach in teaching about leadership.
In fact, this is the way that the study of leadership began many centuries ago,
with stories of the exploits and qualities of mythic leaders from Greece and the
Orient. Jon Howell continues this tradition, and updates it, with this exceptional
collection of stories of great leaders, some well known, others less so. These cases
of leaders and leadership are indeed brief snapshots, but each is clearly embedded
within leadership theory, so this book is readable, practical, and scholarly.
While Snapshots contains stories of great historical leaders (e.g., Churchill,
Gandhi, Lincoln), there are more contemporary leaders included such as Mary
Kay Ash and Mark Zuckerberg, and some who are relatively unknown. In
addition to the great leaders who championed positive social change and led
nations to greatness, there are snapshots of bad leaders and leadership (e.g.,
Hitler, Idi Amin). This suggests that we can learn a great deal from the good
and successful leaders, but also learn what we, as followers of leaders, and leaders
ourselves, must avoid.

xi

xii

Series Foreword

While we fully expect Snapshots of Great Leadership to appeal to scholars

and to anyone interested in the serious study of leaders and leadership, we also
anticipate that this book will make its way into many classrooms. It is an ideal
reader or casebook for any course that touches on leadership, and students will
find it an exciting way to learn about leadership theories and applications. The
Editors would like to thank Jon Howell for being one of the first authors of
our book series, starting it off in such fine fashion, and Anne Duff y, our Editor
at Taylor & Francis, for her extraordinary efforts to bring this book series to
fruition.
Georgia Sorenson
University of Maryland
Ronald E. Riggio
Claremont McKenna College

Preface
The idea for this book has a long history. I have taught leadership in university
classes and conducted research on leadership for over 30 years and I have managed
private business organizations for over 40 years. I used several different leadership
textbooks in my teaching, including a book I coauthored with Dan Costley titled
Understanding Behaviors for Eff ective Leadership (2nd ed., 2006, Pearson Prentice
Hall). Most leadership textbooks focus on leadership theories and the research
that supports them while our text addressed leadership behavior patternswhat
leaders really do to influence followers toward effective performance. In our book
and in several other texts, brief descriptions of real leaders in action were included
to demonstrate how the leaders enacted the leader behaviors and theories. When
using these textbooks in class, I noticed that most students remembered the real
leader action descriptions more vividly and accurately than the leadership theories
or behavior patterns. Students repeatedly mentioned the real leader examples in
class discussions and when answering essay questions on examinations.
I finally realized that the majority of students were learning about leadership
in a different manner than most leadership professors taught. Professors usually
describe different leadership theories or behavior patterns and the research
supporting them, occasionally followed by real life examples of leaders who
exemplify the theories or behaviors. But most students learning about leadership
seemed to begin with the stories of real leaders in action. These stories grabbed
their attention and sparked their interest in learning about leadership behaviors
or theories that help explain the real leaders success. This realization, after many
years of teaching leadership, resulted in this book with its focus on stories of great
leadership.
This book may be most useful as a supplement to be used with other leadership
textbooks in a college or university level leadership class. The main core of this
book is contained in Chapters 226 that provide descriptions (Snapshots) of
individuals who demonstrated great leadership. The Snapshots describe how the
leaders influenced their followers to achieve amazing featssuch as building
an international organization to successfully serve the poorest of the poor, or
xiii

xiv

Preface

creating and running an incredibly successful high-tech business organization,

or preserving a nation from being permanently split apart by a disastrous civil
war, or developing and leading a long lasting organization to successfully help
individuals overcome addiction. These Snapshots also include descriptions of the
leaders background, other life experiences, and the environmental context in
which they worked. This contextual information often helps explain the leaders
behavior and why they had such amazing effects on followers and others.
This book also includes in Chapter 1 brief descriptions of major leadership
theories that are described in detail in most leadership textbooks. A matrix (Table
1.1) is provided following the theory descriptions to indicate which theories
address aspects of the leaders behavior in each Snapshot. In addition, after each
Snapshot is a brief description of how that leaders behavior and characteristics
reflect the different leadership theories in Chapter 1. This is designed to help
students connect the actions of real outstanding leaders with existing leadership
theories. I expect that instructors will use the Snapshots as cases to introduce a
specific leadership theory or behavior pattern. The cases may be discussed and
analyzed by students in class with the instructors guidanceexplaining how
the leaders enacted the leadership theories. This might be followed by a lecture or
reading assignment with a more thorough explanation of the theory or behavior
pattern the instructor prefers to emphasize. After several guided sessions, lectures
and reading assignments, students should begin to connect the leaders actions
with leadership theories on their own. This will begin to make the theories come
alive as real descriptions and prescriptions of outstanding leadership.
Also included in Chapters 2731 are five Snapshots of bad leadership.
These leaders are sometimes judged by scholars or historians as immoral or evil
(examples are Adolf Hitler or Idi Amin) or simply incompetent (examples are
Ken Lay or Al Dunlap). These bad leaders also had very strong influence on their
followers, but the outcomes were disastrous for followers and many others. The
Snapshots of bad leadership are also related to leadership theories and are useful
for students to compare with great leaders to facilitate their understanding of
how leaders can go wrong.
For leadership students who are using a separate leadership textbook, the
theory descriptions may be repetitious and unnecessary. However, there may
be theories described in this book that are not covered in some textbooks. For
readers who are not reading this book for a college or university class and who
have no interest in leadership theories, Chapter 1 can be skipped. Some readers
may simply learn best about leadership from real life examples, rather than from
abstract theories.
Jon P. Howell
New Mexico State University

Acknowledgments
Numerous individuals provided invaluable assistance in completing this book.
First and foremost, my wife Julie was irreplaceable as an editor and advisor
throughout the project. My colleague Peter Dorfman provided advice regarding
my choice of leaders to be included. My editor at Taylor and Francis, Anne Duff y,
was supportive throughout the project. And numerous experts gave valuable
time and effort to reviewing earlier versions of the manuscript and providing
important feedback for the book. These reviewers are listed below:
Ronald E. Riggio, Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and
Organizational Psychology, Claremont McKenna College
Sharon Clinebell, Assistant Dean, University of Northern Colorado
James Weber, College of Business, St. Cloud State University
Georgia J. Sorensen, James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership,
University of Maryland
Don Jung, Yonsei University, Korea
Jagdeep Chhokar, formerly Indian Institute of Management
Leanne Atwater, University of Houston

xv

References and Source

Material for this Book
I used two types of source material for this book. For the leadership theories, I
made extensive use of my class notes from over 30 years of teaching leadership. Of
course, my teaching reflected a myriad of leadership books and journal articles I
have read over the years, but the actual copy for this book was written from my
own understanding and teaching of these theories over the years. No copy was
taken from other sources.
For the descriptions of great leadership, I consulted biographies, journal
articles, and web-based sources that addressed different aspects of the leaders
lives. My strategy in researching and writing the leadership descriptions was to
first consult web-based sources to obtain general information about a leader.
I then consulted what appeared to be the best sources cited in those web
articles and followed the reference trail to find biographies that were widely
cited as outstanding sources for each leader. Once I had read and made notes
on each leader, I wrote the description reflecting my own interpretation of the
leaders actions and how they related to theories of leadership. These leadership
descriptions and interpretations are my own and are not taken directly from any
single source. No authors quotations or written copy was taken from any of
the references used for this book. The only quotations used are brief sayings or
statements by the leaders themselves or their followers. All sources used are cited
in the references at the end of each chapter.

xvii

About the Author

Jon P. Howell is Professor Emeritus of management in the College of Business at
New Mexico State University (NMSU). He received his MBA from the University
of Chicago and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Irvine. He taught
and conducted research on leadership for 31 years and was previously the Bank
of America Distinguished Professor of Management. He received awards for
excellence in teaching and research at NMSU. Professor Howell has published a
leadership textbook titled Understanding Behaviors for Eff ective Leadership (2nd
edition, 2006, Pearson Prentice Hall) as well as numerous book chapters and
articles in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review,
Leadership Quarterly, Organizational Dynamics, Journal of Management, Journal
of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and other journals.
He has received awards for his research from the Society of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, Academy of Management, the Center for Creative
Leadership, and the Global Leadership Advancement Center. He served on the
editorial board for Leadership Quarterly and Journal of World Business. He is a
country co-investigator on the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness (GLOBE) Project which was led by the late Robert House of the
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His primary research interests
are leadership and followership, substitutes for leadership, and leadership across
cultures.

xix

Part I

Theoretical Basis
of Leadership

Chapter 1

Theories of Leadership
This is a book of stories. Most of the stories describe great leaders who accomplished amazing feats such as creating, preserving, or changing a nation or industry, or saving a group of people from exploitation or annihilation. A few of these
stories describe bad leaders who brought destruction or death to scores of people.
In retrospect, the disastrous effects of these bad leaders are no less astounding
than the incredible accomplishments of the great leaders. Although the goals of
these individuals were often quite different, the leadership processes they used
were frequently similar. In relating stories of these leaders, I have described who
they were, what they accomplished, and how they did it. I have referred to existing leadership theories to help explain their leadership tactics and behavior as
well as their effects on others. The use of these leadership theories will hopefully
make the leaders impressive effects more understandable and will clarify how the
theories relate to leadership in action.
Scholars have developed theories of leadership to help understand and explain
how leaders affect the organizations and people they lead. Organizations are simply groups of people working together in a cooperative and coordinated effort to
achieve some goals. Based on research, leadership theories generally focus on specific leader characteristics and/or behavior patterns that are important in shaping
societies and organizations over time. Different scholars have focused on separate
leader characteristics and behaviors, resulting in numerous distinct leadership
theories being proposed and researched. The most popular theories are described
in well-accepted leadership textbooks, and these theories are briefly summarized
in this chapter. For students of leadership, this chapter may repeat information
they previously studied. For the reader without this background, this chapter

Theoretical Basis of Leadership

may provide a framework to help the reader understand how the great and bad
leaders described in this book shaped and changed the societies and organizations they led.
A definition of leadership seems appropriate at this point to give readers an
idea of what is described in this book. Leadership is an influence process, usually
(but not always) carried out by one person. The leader influences a group, who
view the influence as legitimate, toward the achievement of some goal or goals.
The leader may utilize many different strategies to influence followers efforts
toward goal achievement. She might describe a desirable vision of the future
that includes a mission with inspirational goals to be achieved, she might offer
rewards to followers when they achieve the goals, or she might encourage followers to participate with her in setting desirable goals and strategies as a means of
gaining followers ownership of the goals and their commitment to achieve them.
These are all examples of leaders influencing followers to achieve goals, which is
the essence of leadership. Snapshots of Great Leadership describes how different
leaders used these and other strategies to lead their followers in achieving outstanding results.

Trait Theories
Through much of the 20th century, most people believed that great leaders were
born, not made. We now know that leadership is complex and not simply the
result of one or more personal characteristics of an individual. Over 100 years of
research on personal characteristics of leaders (often called leadership traits) failed
to demonstrate that any single trait or set of traits make a person a great leader.
Leadership traits are characteristics of an individual that do not change from situation to situation, such as intelligence, assertiveness, or physical attractiveness.
Literally hundreds of studies were carried out on scores of different traits and
many traits were identified that may help an individual become an effective leader
in specific situations. However, the key traits for one situation may be different for
another situation. The following set of categories summarizes the mass of trait
research and encompasses the most important leadership traits found in research.
Determination and drive encompass traits such as initiative, energy, assertiveness, perseverance, masculinity, and occasionally dominance. Individuals
with these traits work long hours, pursue goals with a high degree of energy and
perseverance, are often ambitious and competitive, and may dominate others.
Cognitive capacity includes intelligence, analytical and verbal ability, behavioral
flexibility, and good judgment. Individuals with strong cognitive capacity are

Theories of Leadership

able to integrate large amounts of information, formulate strategic plans, create

solutions to complex problems and adapt to changing situations. Great leaders
such as Steve Jobs and Abraham Lincoln clearly exhibited the determination and
drive as well as the cognitive capacity to persevere and deal effectively with their
complex changing environments.
Self-confidence includes the traits of high self-esteem, assertiveness, emotional
stability, and self-assurance. Self-confident individuals believe in their own capabilities and judgments, they do not hesitate to act on their beliefs, and they project their self-confidence onto others to build trust, respect, and commitment
among followers. Integrity describes individuals who are truthful, trustworthy,
principled, consistent, dependable, loyal, and not deceptive. Leaders with integrity are honest and open, they keep their word, adhere to generally accepted principles of behavior, and share common values with followers. Winston Churchill
and Nelson Mandela demonstrated self-confidence, integrity, and determination
to persist with assertive and principled behavior in achieving their goals.
Sociability describes individuals who are friendly, extroverted, tactful, flexible,
and interpersonally competent. Sociable leaders like to interact with followers
and others, they adapt their behavior effectively in social situations, and they are
diplomatic when solving problems and relating to other people. Mother Teresa
and Laymah Gbowee were highly sociable, determined, and showed amazing
integrity in their diplomatic dealings with influential individuals outside their
organization.
Despite problems with the early trait research, these categories of leadership
traits appear to be helpful for effectiveness in many situations. Few great leaders possessed all the important leader traits, but these leaders all demonstrated
characteristics that were essential to succeed in their situation. Leadership traits
themselves do not cause an individual to emerge as a leader or to become a great
leader. The key traits for a specific leadership position make it more likely that
a leader will take effective action by demonstrating needed leadership behaviors
in the situation. A leader who is sociable and controls her emotions will likely be
effective at providing needed encouragement and interpersonal support for followers during stressful, threatening episodes that sometimes occur in organizations. Leaders who are intelligent, original, and assertive are more likely to create
and instill an inspiring vision and mission for the organization. Leaders who are
self-confident, assertive, and energetic will be comfortable in providing directive
leadership for followers in solving difficult job or organizational problems. Specific leadership traits can clearly be important preconditions for effective leadership behavior. When a leader possesses the traits needed for a specific position
and reflects those traits in her behavior, she is more likely to obtain the trust,

Theoretical Basis of Leadership

respect, and cooperation needed from others for effective group or organizational
performance.

Early Behavioral and Contingency Theories

In the 1950s, several university based research programs began to focus on identifying the most effective behavior patterns of leaders. At first, these programs
sought to identify one or two behavior patterns that characterized all effective
leaders. This was later described as the one best way approach to leadership
effectiveness. After numerous investigations, they identified two behavior patterns that seemed especially important. The different researchers used several
labels for these two behaviors. One was called consideration, relationship orientation, concern for people, or supportive leader behavior and included showing a
concerned and caring attitude toward followers, being friendly, encouraging followers feelings of personal worth, and supporting efforts to develop their capabilities. The second leader behavior pattern was called initiating structure, task
orientation, concern for production, or directive leader behavior and emphasized
a focus on task accomplishment by clarifying followers roles and the leaders
expectations of followers. This often included goal setting or setting performance
standards, assigning tasks, scheduling, and explaining rules and procedures.
These two leadership behavior patterns became the basis of several leadership
theories developed over the next 25 years.

The Leadership Grid

One such theory that became popular with consultants was the Managerial Grid,
later renamed the Leadership Grid, which was developed by Robert Blake and
Jane Mouton. This model includes the two leader behavior patterns described
above in a two dimensional coordinate system that provides a grid-like representation of different levels of concern for people and concern for production. Concern
for production is represented on the horizontal axis and concern for people is on
the vertical axis. Five distinct leadership styles were described by Grid developers, depending on the amount of each leader behavior a leader demonstrates in
her/his behavior.
Consultants who emphasize the Grid use questionnaires to obtain scores for
each leader on the two behavior patterns, allowing leaders to plot their own position on the Grid. Working with the consultants, leaders presumably determine
how they can adapt their style to improve their leadership effectiveness. Grid

Theories of Leadership

developers maintain that Team Leadership, which describes leaders who are high
on both concern for people and concern for production, is the most effective
style. Despite its popularity with consultants, research shows no single leadership
style is best for all situations. Grid developers recently acknowledged this and
describe some leaders as shifting styles over time, but maintain that most leaders
have a single dominant style. The Grid developers do not describe different situations as requiring different leadership styles.

The Contingency Theory of Leadership

Another leadership theory that was developed about the same time emphasized
the same two leader behavior patterns. The Contingency Theory of Leadership,
developed by Fred Fiedler, labeled these two behaviors task oriented and relationship oriented leadership and included a unique questionnaire for measuring these
behavior patterns. It was more complex and realistic than the Grid theory, in
that it specified that the most effective combination of the two leader behavior
patterns must fit the situation to be most effective. No single level of task and/or
relationship oriented leadership was effective for all situations.
Fiedler described three important situational characteristics that determined
which combination of the two behavior patterns was optimal. These situational
characteristics were the leaders power to control rewards and punishments for
followers, the quality of the relationship between the leader and her followers (that
is, are followers friendly and cooperative with the leader), and the clarity of task
structure for followers (that is, are the task goals, procedures, and measures of
their performance clearly specified). Fiedler rated situations as high or low on
each of these three factors. The three were then combined to classify a situation
as favorable or unfavorable for the leader. If the situation reflected high leader
power, good leader-member relations, and high task structure, then the situation
was considered highly favorable to the leader. A moderately favorable situation
might include a poor leader-member relationship, high position power, and high
task structure or some other combination of high and low scores on the situational factors. A very unfavorable situation had a poor leader-member relationship, low leader power, and low task structure.
The Contingency Theory predicted that a leaders style was either task oriented or relationship oriented. A leader could not be both task and relationship
oriented, although Fiedler later added a socio-independent leadership style that
was apparently medium on both leader behaviors. Task oriented leaders were
predicted to be most effective in highly favorable or highly unfavorable situations. Relationship oriented leaders were most effective in moderately favorable

Theoretical Basis of Leadership

situations. Socio-independent leaders were predicted to be effective in very favorable situations.

Fiedler and his associates believe that leaders have a predominant style and
attempts to change this style are unrealistic. They suggest that if a leader is ineffective, his style does not match the situation and he should be moved to another
situation that is more appropriate. If this is not possible, the leaders situation
could be modified to fit the leaders style. A training program was developed
to teach leaders how to assess their own style and the situation, and to modify
the situation to improve their effectiveness. The Contingency Theory has been
researched extensively with conflicting results, but it has many advocates among
practicing leaders.

The Situational Leadership Theory

The Situational Leadership Theory, developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard,
also emphasized the same two leadership patterns which they recently renamed
directive and supportive leadership. Their model is presented in a two dimensional
coordinate system similar to the Leadership Grid. However, the Situational
Leadership Theory asserts that the most effective leadership style must match the
situation. In this sense, it is similar to the Contingency Theory, but Hersey and
Blanchard describe a very different situational factor as important for the leader
to consider. They point to the followers maturity and readiness to perform as the
key factor the leader must evaluate as she adjusts her leadership style. Followers
with a low level of maturity and readiness are described as unable and unwilling
to work on their own, requiring a telling leadership style that is highly directive
with little supportiveness. Followers who are high in maturity and readiness are
both willing and able to work on their own and require a delegating leadership
style, with little direction or support by the leader. Followers who are in between
low and high on maturity and readiness, require different combinations of directive and supportive leadership. Although the Situational Leadership Theory has
been popular with consultants, perhaps because it is easy to understand, it has
not received strong support from researchers.
Directive and supportive leadership are basic behaviors for leadership and
most great leaders reflect one or both of these behaviors in some form. When the
United Farm Workers Union members were threatened and exploited by growers, the great labor leader, Cesar Chavez, became highly directive with union
members to organize a quick response. He also developed a credit union for
union members, participated in picket lines and marches, and provided strike
funding and other activities that reflected his supportive leadership. Steve Jobs