Corporates seem to be obsessed with the study of leaders, leadership styles and are forever attempting to find the winning formula for leading teams and individuals in the most effective manner. A great amount of time, money and effort is therefore spent in studying leaders of the past and present in pursuit of building an ideal template for aspiring leaders to emulate. Most leaders picked for such study are either from the business world or from history. The common flaw in the study of such leaders and their 'Successes', is that they are rarely, if ever, judged against the 'context' within which they demonstrated their leadership. In my opinion, "Situational" leadership styles and approaches are therefore far more important than attempting to unearth inborn or developed personality traits that seem to contribute to effective leadership.
The other aspect that seems to be often forgotten in these studies are the constituents who are to be led, namely the 'followers'. This obsession with leaders combined with a scant reference to those to be led, seems to be stemming from a negative connotation that followers are mindless servants who are naturally inclined to subservience and prone to some kind of automatic obedience.
I believe that followers are themselves leaders in the making and are constantly assessing the leader against standards that have already taken deep root in their minds from early on in life. These frames of reference are most often created in the minds of followers by role models that they have been idolizing from an impressionable age. Effective leaders have to most often contend with these preconceived notions and pass the test of scrutiny in the minds of their followers to measure up to these standards and earn any modicum of loyalty and commitment.
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