Chapter
THREE
Leadership Skills and Behaviors
The effective leader is aware of the importance of small actions.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 63
In Chapter One we identified the three major themes of research on leadership: traits, behavior, and the situational context. In Chapter Two we saw that none of these themes produced a leadership approach, model, or theory that gave a convincing or especially useful answer to the questions, “What is leadership?” and “How can leaders be more effective?” It was the political historian James McGregor Burns who addressed these issues in a new way. He argued that leadership is about transforming people and social organizations, not about motivating employees to exchange work efforts for pay.
Burns didn’t explain ...
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