Leadership summary

Before delving into leadership types, it’s worth considering what leadership is, and where it comes from. As you might guess, there are many ways to define leadership. But the common thread is this: leadership is the act of a person influencing a group for a common purpose. So, what makes someone a leader? Let’s consider a few common theories about successful leadership.

The trait approach to leadership posits that leaders possess a set of qualities that separates them from followers. According to this theory, leaders are born, not built. Some of the traits commonly associated with leadership are intelligence and extraversion, as well as inborn qualities like height and charisma.

Simply put, transformative leaders change people. They don’t just achieve goals through their own knowledge, talent, or competence. They change the world by motivating their followers to be better people.

Most leadership styles are transactional: the leader asks something of the follower, and the follower gets something in return. For example, a CEO asks his employees to meet a sales benchmark, and they get a bonus if they do. Transformational leadership is different. It’s about elevating people’s morals in order to achieve goals.

For authentic leadership, transparency is crucial. Followers have to trust the leader is genuine in their intentions. This sense of authenticity can come from three places: within the person, from their interactions with others, or from a major event that affords authenticity to a leader.

The intrapersonal approach suggests a leader is authentic because of who they are: their knowledge, convictions, and life experiences.

Servant leadership flips the typical leadership model on its head. It’s about putting the interests of the followers above those of the leader. According to this view, the best way to lead is to help followers reach their potential.

In addition to this follower-first approach, servant leaders accept social responsibility. They care about marginalized people and do their best to combat injustice.

Now, let’s consider adaptive leadership, which is about focusing on adjusting people’s actions in response to new environments. In other words, adaptive leaders help followers deal with change.

Adaptive leadership differs from other leadership types because the focus isn’t on the leader or even the followers, it’s on the right way to respond to shifting circumstances. Practicing adaptive leadership requires addressing a trio of situational challenges.

In recent years, there has been an emerging body of scholarship devoted to the benefits of inclusion in an array of settings. But what, exactly, does it mean to be “inclusive?” Well, it turns out inclusion is all about satisfying two needs: belongingness and uniqueness.

Belongingness refers to the desire to be included, while uniqueness refers to the desire to keep one’s own identity. Balancing these two priorities is the delicate notion of inclusion.

As we’ve previously discussed, leadership is about exerting influence over a group of people for a specific goal. The goal in question, however, can be positive or negative. Because history is rife with examples of leaders leveraging their influence to harm others, it’s vital to be able to recognize when it happens.

This kind of malign influence is called psuedo-transformational leadership. So, what makes this kind of leader? Look out for the toxic triangle, as it’s called: the behavior of these destructive leaders, the kinds of followers they attract, and the environments in which they arise.

There are a host of theories about what leadership is, where it comes from, and how to exercise it effectively. We’ve also delineated five types of leadership styles, exploring how they are distinct, highlighting examples of their use, and providing tips for how you can adopt them. Finally, we discussed how to identify a destructive leader, and touched on the ways ethics promotes quality leadership.