What’s your leadership style? You have a particular style, of course, but do you know what it is and how it compares to the styles of other leaders?
Over the past two decades of studying leaders, my team and I have found that there are really four fundamental leadership styles: Pragmatist, Idealist, Steward and Diplomat. Leaders can be effective or ineffective within each of these four styles, and there are a million subtle variations, but these four styles give us a way to pinpoint some major philosophical differences between leaders. (There’s a free leadership styles assessment to assess yourself.)
One major philosophical difference that separates the four leadership styles is the extent to which leaders are directive or open. For example, do your like your employees to complete their tasks the way you prefer them to do it? Or, do you let your employees complete tasks the way they want to do it?