A quick note on leadership

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

-John Quincy Adams

A few days ago someone asked me to describe my leadership style. My answer:

"I think I'm a responsive leader. The style I use to lead others depends on the situation. I dont take the lead on group assignments at work the same way I take the lead on planning surprise parties with friends. For this reason I cant be thrown into one leadership category and be comfortable. I think leaders have to be flexible in that no two situations are exactly the same. Some situations require you to be autocratic while others prompt for a more laissez-faire approach. Still, others beg for a  more democratic approach. I think effective leaders know how to adjust their leadership styles according to their audience and the task at hand."

One very important component of being a young professional is effective leadership. In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin developed a leadership framework based on a leader's decision-making behavior. Lewin argued that there are three types of leaders:

Autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting their teams. This is considered appropriate when decisions genuinely need to be taken quickly, when there's no need for input, and when team agreement isn't necessary for a successful outcome.

Democratic leaders allow the team to provide input before making a decision, although the degree of input can vary from leader to leader. This type of style is important when team agreement matters, but it can be quite difficult to manage when there are lots of different perspectives and ideas.

Laissez-faire leaders don't interfere; they allow the team to make many of the decisions. Typically this happens when the team is highly capable and motivated, and it doesn't need close monitoring or supervision.

Another model, the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid helps you decide how best to lead, depending on your concern for people versus your concern for production. The model describes five different leadership styles: impoverished, country club, team leader, produce or perish, or middle of the road.

Yet another model, Action-Centered Leadership model is another framework that's consistent with behavioral theories of leadership. Using this model, the "best" leadership style is determined by balancing task, team, and individual responsibilities. Leaders who spend time managing each of these elements will likely be more successful than those who focus mostly on only one element.


While I'm not inclined to completely debunk leadership types, I believe everyone has their own style of stepping up and into leadership roles that cannot always fit neatly into one category. This is mainly because leaders bring their background, belief systems and previous experiences to every situation. I'm going to assume we can all agree no two people approach issues the same exact way. Two people can see the same exact accident on the same street corner and still describe the accident differently from one another. With that said, we must also understand that our efforts to "fit" people into one of three or one of one thousand categories can limit their potential. There is power in a label, be careful which ones you adapt for yourself and which ones you place on others.

The sad part is we hear more about when leaders fail than when they succeed. Consider this my honest effort to balance out my earlier post.

Think about how you interact with others. What kind of leader do you think you are? Do you adapt to situations or stand your ground based on your leadership style? Do you think you fit into one of the above categories?

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves” -Unknown

Source: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm