25 Leadership Styles That Shape Success

Leadership shapes how companies operate and achieve success. When you lead a team, you must understand different ways to guide people. This guide explores twenty-five different leadership styles. You’ll learn how each one works and when to use each style. Let’s discover the leadership styles used in today’s businesses.

25 Powerful Leadership Styles

Core Leadership Styles

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders inspire their teams by sharing exciting visions of the future and showing genuine enthusiasm. These leaders encourage people to exceed expectations while helping them grow and explore new ideas. This type of leadership works especially well during significant changes, as these leaders inspire everyone with enthusiasm about what’s to come. This helps teams work harder and care more about their jobs. They succeed because they communicate well and have extensive emotional intelligence. They also care a lot about helping their team improve and aren’t afraid to question old ways of doing things.

Leaders who use this style:

• Steve Jobs (Apple): Jobs exemplified transformational leadership by completely reimagining the potential of technology. He didn’t just improve existing products; he created entirely new categories, such as the iPhone. His famous “reality distortion field” inspired engineers to achieve what they thought was impossible.
• Satya Nadella (Microsoft): When Nadella became Microsoft’s CEO, he transformed the company culture from one of competition to one of collaboration and learning. He moved Microsoft’s focus from just Windows computers to cloud computing and online services. He got employees excited about trying new ideas instead of sticking to old products.
• Mary Barra (General Motors): As the leader of GM, a 100-year-old car company, Barra is making strides. She’s pivoting to make electric cars instead of gas cars. She also encourages workers to imagine a future with no car crashes, no pollution, and no traffic jams. This exciting goal makes employees want to create better ways for people to travel.

Democratic Leadership

Democratic leaders ask their team members to help make decisions. They listen to ideas from everyone, whether they’re managers or regular workers, which makes people feel important. This sense of value often yields more commitment. This style works great in creative jobs where people need to think and share ideas. While teams take longer to make decisions when everyone gets a say, they usually make better choices because more people share their thoughts, and workers feel happier because their leaders listen to them and trust them.

Leaders who use this style:

• Indra Nooyi (Former PepsiCo CEO): Nooyi held big meetings called “town halls” where any worker could ask her questions. She visited factories to talk with regular workers, not just bosses. By listening to everyone’s ideas, she helped create healthier food and drinks that the workers themselves developed.
• Tony Hsieh (Former Zappos CEO): Hsieh let all workers contribute via a system where everyone had a say. Workers helped choose everything from how the office looked to what the company stood for. People loved working there so much that they stayed even when other companies offered them more money.
• Ginni Rometty (Former IBM CEO): Rometty held large online meetings called “jams.” These sessions allowed all 350,000 IBM workers to share their ideas. She used their suggestions to help IBM start making artificial intelligence and cloud computing services. This showed how listening to everyone’s ideas can lead to new and better products.

 Autocratic Leadership

Autocratic leaders make all the decisions by themselves without asking their team for ideas. Their strict control over everything makes it clear who’s in charge. This style is effective in situations where people need to make quick decisions. The military is a prime example since clear orders can save lives. The downside is that workers may feel unimportant, which can lead to dissatisfaction at work. This is why leaders should only use this leadership style when it’s necessary.

Leaders who use this style:

• Martha Stewart (Martha Stewart Living): Stewart controls every part of her business. Everything from picking colors to deciding where products go in stores. She must approve all major decisions herself. If a photo shoot doesn’t look exactly right to her, she’ll make everyone redo the whole thing until it’s perfect.
• Gordon Ramsay (Celebrity Chef): In Ramsay’s kitchens, whatever he says goes – no questions asked. He decides right away what food to serve, who works where, and what’s good enough to serve customers. This strict control keeps all his restaurants at the same high quality. However, it can be stressful for the people who work for him.
• Elon Musk (Tesla/SpaceX): Elon Musk makes big company decisions by sending emails in the middle of the night or making surprise announcements. He sets super-tight deadlines without asking anyone else and will completely change how departments work based on what he thinks is best, without first talking to people about it.

Strategic Leadership Styles

Servant Leadership

Servant leaders put their team’s needs before themselves. They focus on helping workers grow and fixing problems that get in their way. They’re humble and understand how others feel, which makes employees feel supported and valued at work. These leaders genuinely listen when people have concerns. They also give credit to their team when things go well. Furthermore, they accept responsibility when things go wrong. Because workers feel so valued, they stay loyal to the company and work harder, creating strong teams that remain cohesive for a long time.

Leaders who use this style:

• Howard Schultz (Starbucks): Schultz was the first to give health insurance to part-time workers at Starbucks because he cared more about workers than saving money. He often worked in coffee shops alongside the baristas to see what problems they faced daily. His caring leadership made workers so loyal that they don’t call themselves employees – they call themselves “partners.”
• Dan Cathy (Chick-fil-A): Cathy visits Chick-fil-A restaurants to work alongside employees, serving food to workers and customers himself. He teaches restaurant owners that good leaders should help others before thinking about themselves. Because of this caring approach, Chick-fil-A workers are some of the happiest in the fast food business.
• Cheryl Bachelder (Former Popeyes CEO): Bachelder saved Popeyes by helping restaurant owners instead of bossing them around. She listened to their problems and got rid of rules from headquarters that made their jobs harder. By putting them first, she helped the company generate four times more revenue while also making restaurant owners happier to work with Popeyes.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

Laissez-faire leaders give their teams very little guidance. They trust workers to make their own decisions. This helps people become more independent and creative. This style works great with experienced workers who motivate themselves. It works especially well in creative jobs like advertising or design. But new workers might struggle without more help. Even though these leaders stay hands-off, they still need to help their teams. They must give their teams the tools and resources they need. They also need to make sure everyone knows what goals to reach. Otherwise, people might get confused about what they should do.

Leaders who use this style:

• Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway): Buffett buys companies and lets the managers who already work there keep running things without bothering them. He gives them money and advice only if they ask for it. This hands-off style has helped him build one of the richest companies in the world.
• Richard Branson (Virgin Group): Branson starts new businesses and then lets his teams run them on their own. He thinks if you hire really good people, you should trust them to do their jobs without watching over them. This approach has helped Virgin succeed in many different businesses, from airplanes to space rockets.
• Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook): Zuckerberg lets his engineering teams work on their own to create new features for Facebook. He tells them the big picture of what he wants but lets them figure out how to build it. This freedom has helped them create new tools like React and make Facebook work much better.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders use rewards and punishments to manage their teams. If you do well, you get bonuses or praise, but if you mess up, there are consequences. They clearly communicate what’s expected and track everyone’s performance. This works really well in jobs with clear tasks. Jobs like sales or factory work are good examples. You can easily measure success in these jobs. These leaders are great at keeping things running smoothly and efficiently. But their strict rules can make it hard for people to come up with new ideas. So the best transactional leaders know when to be flexible. They also know when to stick to the rules.

Leaders who use this style:

• Bill Gates (Early Microsoft): Gates built Microsoft by setting clear goals and rewarding people who met them. Workers got bonuses when they finished products on time and made them work well. This system of rewards helped Microsoft become the biggest computer software company in the world.
• Jack Welch (Former GE CEO): Welch rated all his workers from best to worst. He then gave big rewards to the top performers and fired the bottom 10% every year. This harsh system helped GE become America’s most valuable company, but it also made employees compete against each other instead of working as a team.
• Vince Lombardi (Legendary Football Coach): Lombardi had simple rules for his players – do things right and you play in the game, mess up and you sit on the bench. Players always knew what he expected from them. This clear system of rewards and punishments helped him win five NFL championships in just seven years.

Adaptive Leadership Styles

Situational Leadership

Situational leaders change their style based on what’s happening. They look at whether their team is ready for a task. They also look at how hard the job is. Then they give more or less help as needed. These leaders know that one way of leading doesn’t work for every situation. So they figure out what each moment requires. They switch between being strict, supportive, or hands-off. They choose what works best. The best situational leaders are good at reading people and situations. They know many different ways to lead and can smoothly change from one style to another. They do this without confusing their team.

Leaders who use this style:

• Jeff Bezos (Amazon): Bezos changes how he leads based on what’s happening. When Amazon starts something new, like AWS cloud services, Bezos gets involved in every tiny detail. However, once the business is running smoothly, he lets other people handle it. Being able to switch between controlling everything and letting go has helped Amazon become a leader in many different businesses.
• Angela Merkel (Former German Chancellor): Merkel changed her leadership style to handle different problems, like when banks were failing or when refugees needed help. She knew when to work together with friends and when to stand tough against those who disagreed with her. Being able to read situations and adapt helped her lead Germany for 16 years.
• Phil Jackson (NBA Coach): Jackson changed how he coached based on each player’s personality. He used calm Zen teachings with some players, while others needed tough motivation. He knew how to adjust his style for different teams too. This ability to change his approach helped him win 11 NBA championships with the Bulls and Lakers.

Coaching Leadership

Coaching leaders help their workers grow and get better at their jobs over time by giving regular feedback and chances to learn new skills. They build strong relationships with employees, like a teacher with a student, making workers feel like the company cares about their future careers. Instead of just telling people what to do, these leaders ask questions that make workers think for themselves, encourage them to learn from mistakes, and help them see how their daily work connects to their bigger career dreams – all of which makes employees work harder and care more about their jobs.

Leaders who use this style:

• Bill Campbell (Silicon Valley Coach): Campbell was affectionately known as “Coach” by notable tech leaders such as Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Jeff Bezos. Instead of telling them what to do, he helped them become better leaders by teaching them how to think through problems themselves. His coaching helped create some of the most successful technology companies in the world.
• Eric Schmidt (Former Google CEO): Schmidt spent lots of time teaching young engineers how to become leaders at Google. He initiated a specialized training program to help talented individuals develop their skills. By investing time in developing people, he helped make Google a place where new ideas could flourish.
• Pat Summitt (Tennessee Basketball): Summitt won more college basketball games than any other coach by caring about her players as people, not just athletes. She made sure all her players finished college and taught them skills for life after basketball. Her coaching created both winning teams and players who became successful in their careers after sports.

Bureaucratic Leadership

Bureaucratic leaders stick to the rules no matter what – they follow every company policy exactly and make sure everyone else does too, valuing tradition and keeping things stable. This style works well in places with lots of regulations like hospitals, banks, and government offices where following procedures keeps people safe and prevents legal problems. The downside is that all these strict rules can stop people from trying new ideas and make workers feel trapped, so good bureaucratic leaders know when to be flexible without breaking important rules.

Leaders who use this style:

• Alfred P. Sloan (Former GM CEO): Sloan created the way big companies are organized today, with clear levels of bosses and strict rules for how things get done. His system of following procedures helped General Motors become the world’s biggest company. Even though his methods were strict and inflexible, they kept the company stable and growing for many decades.
• Colin Powell (Former Secretary of State): Powell used the strict, organized methods he learned in the military when he worked in government. He followed all the official rules carefully while dealing with complicated problems between countries. His by-the-book approach kept things steady during difficult and chaotic times.
• Janet Yellen (Treasury Secretary): Yellen follows all the government’s banking rules exactly when she makes decisions. She uses numbers and facts, not opinions, to decide what’s best for the economy. By always sticking to the same process, she helps businesses feel secure because they know what to expect from her.

Collaborative Leadership Styles

Participative Leadership

Participative leaders always ask their team “What do you think?” before making big decisions. They hold meetings where everyone can share ideas and argue their points, which makes everyone feel like part of the solution. When people help make a decision, they work harder to make it succeed because they helped create the idea. These leaders excel at getting everyone to talk, listening to all the different ideas, and making sure even shy people speak up.

Leaders who use this style:

• Muhtar Kent (Former Coca-Cola CEO): Kent set up meetings where Coca-Cola workers from around the world could share what people in their countries liked to drink. He used their ideas to create new drinks that matched local tastes. By listening to employees everywhere, he helped Coca-Cola become more popular in new countries.
• Jim Sinegal (Costco Co-founder): Sinegal walked through Costco warehouses talking to regular workers about how to make things better. When workers suggested ideas – like faster checkouts or better ways to display products – he actually used them. Because he listened to employees and used their ideas, workers became extremely loyal to the company.
• Larry Page (Google Co-founder): Page lets Google engineers spend one day a week working on their own ideas. When teams brainstorm, he joins in like any other worker, not as the boss. This culture of listening to everyone’s ideas led to the creation of Gmail, Google News, and other cool Google products.

Charismatic Leadership

Charismatic leaders have magnetic personalities that draw people in and get them excited. They connect with workers’ feelings and make everyone enthusiastic about their jobs. People love working for them and stay super loyal because these leaders tell inspiring stories, truly care about their goals, and make each person feel valued. The only problem is that companies can become too dependent on that one special leader’s charm.

Leaders who use this style:

• Oprah Winfrey (Media Mogul): Winfrey built her TV and media business by truly connecting with people’s feelings. She makes every guest on her show and every employee feel like they really matter to her. Because of her warm, magnetic personality, people stayed loyal to her whether she was on TV, in magazines, or online.
• Richard Branson (Virgin Group): Branson’s fun personality and love of adventure gets Virgin workers around the world excited about their jobs. He remembers people’s names and parties with his teams when they succeed. His charm and energy make starting new businesses feel like going on an exciting adventure instead of just work.
• Martin Luther King Jr. (Civil Rights Leader): MLK’s powerful speeches and magnetic personality inspired millions of people to fight for civil rights. Even when speaking to huge crowds, he made each person feel like he was talking directly to them. His ability to inspire people helped change America through peaceful protests instead of violence.

Pace-Setting Leadership

Pace-setting leaders work extremely hard and expect everyone else to match their high standards, constantly pushing themselves and their teams to do better and better. This style works great with talented, motivated workers who can keep up with the fast pace, but it can make struggling employees feel stressed and overwhelmed. These leaders need to remember that not everyone can work at the same speed, and they should help slower workers improve instead of just demanding perfection, or else people will burn out and quit.

Leaders who use this style:

• Jeff Bezos (Amazon): Bezos expects near-perfect work and works just as hard as his employees to reach tough goals. He even reads customer complaints himself and wants all workers to care that much too. This push for excellence has made Amazon super focused on keeping customers happy, but it also makes Amazon a really stressful place to work.
• Marissa Mayer (Former Yahoo CEO):Mayer worked about 18 hours every day and expected her top managers to work almost as much. She personally checked every single person the company wanted to hire to make sure they were good enough. While this showed how dedicated she was, it often exhausted her teams and made people quit from working too hard.
• Michael Jordan (Basketball Legend): Jordan was famous for working harder than anyone else, which pushed his teammates to get better every day. He always showed up to practice before everyone else and dared others to work as hard as he did. His extreme dedication helped win six NBA championships, but some players got worn out trying to keep up with him.

Innovative Leadership Styles

Visionary Leadership

Visionary leaders are dreamers who can describe an exciting future so clearly that everyone else starts to believe in it too. They get people pumped up about long-term goals and encourage them to think big and try new things, even if they seem impossible. These leaders paint such vivid pictures of what success will look like that teams get excited and start taking risks to make it happen. They help each person see how their daily work connects to the bigger dream, and they stay positive and hopeful even when things get tough, which keeps everyone else believing too.

Leaders who use this style:

• Elon Musk (Tesla/SpaceX): Musk gets so excited talking about electric cars and living on Mars that his excitement spreads to everyone around him. He describes these future dreams so clearly that engineers want to work for him even though he sets crazy deadlines. His big dreams have changed several industries at once – cars, space travel, and more.
• Walt Disney (Disney): Disney dreamed up family fun parks when no one else even thought they were possible. He explained his idea for Disneyland so clearly and excitedly that people gave him money to build it, even though they thought he was crazy. His ability to see the future created a company that’s still making families happy many generations later.
• Reed Hastings (Netflix): Hastings imagined people watching movies over the internet when most people still had slow dial-up connections. He described a future where nobody needed to drive to video stores so clearly that his team switched Netflix from mailing DVDs to streaming online. His big vision completely changed how people around the world watch TV shows and movies.

Strategic Leadership

Strategic leaders are good at handling today’s work while also planning for the future – they look at complicated problems from many different angles to find the best solutions that will keep their company winning for years to come. These leaders are like chess players who think several moves ahead, spotting problems and opportunities before they happen, which helps their companies bounce back from tough times. They understand how all parts of the business world connect together, teach their teams to think ahead too, and make decisions that work for everyone involved – employees, customers, and investors.

Leaders who use this style:

• Sundar Pichai (Google/Alphabet CEO): Pichai runs Google’s advertising business that makes money today while also spending money on new technology for tomorrow. He thinks many steps ahead, like preparing Google for artificial intelligence before it becomes a big deal. His careful planning helps Google stay successful now while also being ready for the future.
• Tim Cook (Apple CEO): Cook is great at managing how Apple makes and delivers products while also spending money on new inventions. He keeps Apple products expensive but also finds new places to sell them around the world. Under his leadership, Apple has become the richest company in the world.
• Indra Nooyi (Former PepsiCo CEO): Nooyi slowly moved PepsiCo toward making healthier snacks and drinks while still keeping popular products like Pepsi and Doritos. She figured out years before everyone else that people would want healthier food options. Her smart planning helped PepsiCo stay successful as people’s eating habits changed.

Authentic Leadership

Authentic leaders act like their real selves all the time. They don’t pretend to be perfect and openly admit when they mess up or don’t know something. Because they stay honest and open about their own weaknesses, workers feel safe being honest too, without worrying about getting in trouble for speaking up or making mistakes. This creates a workplace where people can be themselves, share creative ideas freely, and solve problems better because no one fears saying what they really think. These leaders always do what they say they’ll do and encourage everyone else to be real too, building companies where people value honesty more than looking good.

Leaders who use this style:

• Brené Brown (Researcher/Author): Brown leads by talking openly about her own fears and embarrassing moments. She tells everyone when she makes mistakes and encourages people to share their real feelings. By being so honest about her struggles, she’s inspired millions of people around the world to be braver and more connected with each other.
• Howard Schultz (Starbucks): Schultz tells everyone about growing up poor and how it affects the way he runs Starbucks. He sometimes cries during company meetings when talking about taking care of workers. Because he’s so real and honest about his feelings, both employees and customers feel a strong connection to him.
• Paul Polman (Former Unilever CEO): Polman openly talked about Unilever’s problems while trying to make the company better for the environment. When his plans didn’t work, he admitted it to everyone and changed direction without hiding his mistakes. People trusted him because he was honest, even when investors wanted him to focus on making quick money instead of doing the right thing.

Empowering Leadership Styles

Delegative Leadership

Delegative leaders spread power throughout their company by giving important jobs to different team members and trusting them to handle big responsibilities, which helps develop future leaders. This approach lets employees grow their skills and teams learn to work on their own without needing constant help from the boss. While these leaders give people freedom to make decisions, they make sure everyone knows what they’re responsible for, provide the tools and resources people need, remove problems that get in the way, and stay available to help when someone needs advice.

Leaders who use this style:

• Ronald Reagan (Former US President): Reagan gave lots of responsibility to his top government officials while he focused on the country’s big goals. He let the experts handle the complicated details of their jobs while he worked on explaining his ideas to the American people. By letting specialists do what they did best without interfering, Reagan helped them succeed in their own areas.
• Andrew Carnegie (Steel Magnate): Carnegie built his steel empire by letting skilled managers run the day-to-day operations. He focused on making big plans for the company while trusting others to do the actual work. By giving his managers so much responsibility and sharing profits with them, many of them became millionaires too.
• Ray Kroc (McDonald’s): Kroc built McDonald’s by letting restaurant owners run their own stores however they wanted. He gave them the recipes and basic rules but let them handle everything else themselves. This hands-off approach helped thousands of people become successful business owners running their own McDonald’s restaurants.

Facilitative Leadership

Facilitative leaders help teams work together to find solutions instead of telling them what to do – they create spaces where groups can work well together and focus on how they do things rather than who’s in charge. This style works great for hard projects where different departments need to work together, and it naturally teaches people to work together better while helping different parts of the company connect. These leaders excel at asking questions that get people talking, managing the group so everyone gets along, and making sure even the quietest person shares their ideas.

Leaders who use this style:

• Meg Whitman (Former HP CEO): Whitman helped different parts of HP that weren’t connecting to start working together again. She put people from different departments on the same teams and led their meetings without forcing her own ideas on them. By guiding conversations instead of bossing people around, she fixed the company’s teamwork problems.
• Alan Mulally (Former Ford CEO): Mulally held weekly meetings where Ford’s top managers worked together to fix problems. He led discussions where people could talk honestly about what went wrong without getting in trouble or blamed. This way of bringing people together helped save Ford when the company was almost going bankrupt.
• Mary Parker Follett (Management Pioneer): Follett was one of the first people to teach this way of leading back in the 1920s. She showed leaders how to help groups solve problems together instead of just telling everyone what to do. Her ideas about getting people to work together are still used by managers today, 100 years later.

Affiliative Leadership

Affiliative leaders care most about keeping everyone happy and building strong friendships at work, creating a positive place where people enjoy coming to work each day. This style really helps when teams have been fighting or going through tough times, because when the boss shows they truly care about workers as people, everyone feels better and wants to stay with the company longer. These leaders throw parties when the team does well, comfort people when things go wrong, and make sure everyone feels included and valued – like being part of a work family where everyone belongs.

Leaders who use this style:

• Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines Founder): Kelleher remembered every worker’s name and came to their weddings and family parties. He made Southwest Airlines a fun place to work where everyone felt like they were part of one big family. By making employees happy and caring about them personally, he built the most profitable airline in America.
• Bob Chapman (Barry-Wehmiller CEO): Bob Chapman treats his workers like they’re his own family members, caring about their personal lives and happiness, not just their work. Instead of measuring success by money, he measures it by whether his employees’ lives are getting better. By putting people first and creating workplaces where people feel cared for, his company keeps growing while making workers genuinely happy.
• Arianna Huffington (Thrive Global): Huffington cares more about workers being healthy and having time for their personal lives than making lots of money. She shows employees how to take care of themselves by doing things like getting enough sleep and taking breaks. Her caring leadership style goes against the usual business idea that making money is the most important thing.

Results-Oriented Leadership Styles

Performance Leadership

Performance leaders focus on hitting goals and measuring everything – they set up clear targets and tracking systems so everyone knows exactly how well they perform and who handles what tasks. This style works great in competitive places like sales teams where winning matters, but these leaders need to remember that pushing too hard can stress people out. They look at data and numbers to make decisions, give workers regular updates on how they perform (in a helpful way, not mean), and throw celebrations when the team reaches important goals, always trying to help everyone do a little better than before.

Leaders who use this style:

• Andy Grove (Former Intel CEO): Grove created a system called OKRs where teams set goals and track their progress with numbers. He measured everything that happened at Intel and met with each person every week to check how they were doing. By focusing so hard on performance and results, he helped Intel become the biggest computer chip maker in the world.
• Jack Welch (Former GE CEO): Welch created a tough system where he ranked every single employee from best to worst. He gave big rewards to the top workers and either tried to help the bottom workers improve or fired them. While this focus on performance made GE worth tons of money, many people argued about whether it was too harsh.
• Nick Saban (Alabama Football Coach): Saban uses numbers to track everything his football players do. He keeps detailed records of how hard they practice, their grades in school, and every play they make in games. By constantly measuring and watching everything his players do, he’s won many national championships with his teams.

Task-Oriented Leadership

Task-oriented leaders care most about getting projects done quickly and efficiently. They take big, complicated jobs and break them into smaller, easier pieces that people can actually finish. This style works really well when you need to deliver something specific by a deadline, and workers like it because they know exactly what to do and when to do it, which helps them get more work done. These leaders are really good at figuring out who should do what and when, getting rid of problems that slow people down, and keeping everyone focused on the job even when other things try to distract them.

Leaders who use this style:

• Tim Cook (Apple CEO): Cook excels at ensuring Apple products come out perfectly in every country at the same time. He pays super close attention to how products are made and shipped to stores, making sure every step works smoothly. His focus on getting every detail right means Apple can make millions of products that all work perfectly.
• Sheryl Sandberg (Former Meta COO): Sandberg built Facebook’s advertising business by focusing completely on getting things done. She set up systems that helped Facebook grow bigger without everything falling apart. Her focus on completing tasks and hitting goals turned Facebook into a company that makes tons of money.
• Carlos Ghosn (Former Nissan CEO): Ghosn saved Nissan from going out of business by making a list of exactly what needed to be fixed and when. He broke the huge job of fixing the company into smaller projects with clear goals, like cutting costs by a certain amount by a specific date. His step-by-step approach worked when other leaders couldn’t figure out how to save the company.

Results-Based Leadership

Results-based leaders care about getting real, measurable results. They ensure everything people do at work connects to the company’s main goals and hold everyone responsible for their part. This style helps because everyone knows exactly what’s important and how their job helps the company succeed, which means people work together better and waste less time. These leaders are really clear about what they expect, constantly check if people are meeting their goals, and aren’t afraid to change their plans if something isn’t working – it’s all about getting the results that matter.

Leaders who use this style:

• Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase CEO): Dimon cares most about the bank’s money numbers and making profits for investors. He checks how the bank is doing every single day and changes his plans based on what the numbers tell him. By always focusing on results and profits, he’s made JPMorgan the most valuable bank in America.
• Larry Ellison (Oracle Founder): Ellison built Oracle by caring only about how much the company sold and beating competitors. Everything at Oracle was about making more money and winning customers away from other companies. By focusing so hard on these results and pushing everyone to win at all costs, he built one of the biggest software companies in the world.
• Ray Dalio (Bridgewater Associates): Dalio believes in being completely honest and using data for everything. He records all company meetings and tracks whether decisions turned out good or bad. By focusing so much on measuring results and being totally open about them, his investment company has made lots of money for clients.

Developmental Leadership Styles

Mentoring Leadership

Mentoring leaders spend lots of time and energy helping individual people grow. They do so by sharing their knowledge and life lessons freely with younger workers. This helps build the next generation of leaders for the company. The mentoring style changes people’s careers for the better because mentees slowly develop skills and confidence with their mentor’s help. This, in turn, makes the whole company stronger as more people develop their talents. These leaders excel at both pushing mentees to take on challenging tasks and supporting them when they struggle, helping them discover new opportunities for growth, and celebrating their successes with pride – much like a coach who genuinely cares about each player’s future.

Leaders who use this style:

• Bill Campbell (Silicon Valley Legend): Campbell taught and guided famous tech leaders like Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, and Larry Page without wanting any fame for himself. He helped them work through both personal problems and business challenges. The advice and support he provided to these leaders helped create Silicon Valley’s largest and most successful companies.
• Maya Angelou (Author/Activist): Angelou taught and guided Oprah Winfrey and many other writers and leaders throughout her life. She shared lessons from her own experiences and encouraged people to be their true selves. The people she mentored went on to help others, creating a chain of positive influence that continues to this day.
• Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway): Buffett teaches CEOs who run his companies and young people around the world who want to learn investing. He shares his knowledge through yearly letters to shareholders and one-on-one meetings. His primary lesson, about being patient and buying good companies at fair prices, has helped many people become successful investors themselves.

Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leaders want teams with people from all different backgrounds because different types of people bring different ideas. They make sure everyone feels like they belong at work – whether they’re Black, white, male, female, or anything else. When people from different backgrounds work together, they make better decisions and come up with more creative ideas. These leaders stand up against unfair treatment, give quiet people chances to share their ideas, and keep track of whether they’re really making things fair for everyone. This helps companies better understand and serve all kinds of customers.

Leaders who use this style:

• Rosalind Brewer (Walgreens CEO): Brewer fights to have people from different backgrounds in all boss positions at Walgreens. She sets exact goals, like hiring a certain number of Black or Hispanic managers and making sure women get promoted too. By making the company more diverse and fair, she’s made workers happier and the business more successful.
• Ken Chenault (Former American Express CEO): Chenault helped people from different backgrounds get ahead by guiding their careers. He created groups where Black, Asian, and other minority workers could support one another, and he carefully tracked whether the company was becoming fairer and more inclusive. His leadership demonstrated that companies perform better when they have diverse teams working together.
• Marc Benioff (Salesforce CEO): Benioff regularly checks if men and women, and people of different races, are getting paid the same for doing the same job at Salesforce. If he finds unfair differences, he fixes them. He also makes sure his top managers only get bonuses if they hire and promote diverse people. Because of this, Salesforce has become an example for other companies trying to treat all workers fairly.

Adaptive Leadership

Adaptive leaders help companies handle change that happens all the time. They teach workers to be flexible and ready for anything, even when no one knows what’s coming next. These leaders tell everyone it’s okay to try new things and fail because that’s how you learn. They don’t get upset when people make mistakes – they actually celebrate smart failures because it means the team learned something. This helps companies stay successful when everything keeps changing around them.

Leaders who use this style:

• Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn Co-founder): Hoffman teaches that companies should always be improving and changing, never finished – like a video game that keeps getting updates. He changed LinkedIn’s direction many times based on what users actually did on the site. By being willing to keep changing and adapting, he built LinkedIn into a company worth billions of dollars.
• Ursula Burns (Former Xerox CEO): Burns saved Xerox when computers were making copy machines less important. She changed the company from just selling copiers to helping businesses with all kinds of services, while keeping what Xerox was already good at. By being willing to completely change how the company made money, she saved Xerox from going out of business.
• Brad Smith (Former Intuit CEO): Smith changed Intuit from selling software you install on your computer to software you use online. He told his teams to try lots of new ideas quickly and not worry if some didn’t work out. By being open to change and learning from mistakes, he kept Intuit successful even as technology completely changed how people use software.

Ethical Leadership

Ethical leaders always do what’s right, even when it’s hard or when they could make more money doing something wrong. They’re honest all the time and admit when they make mistakes, which makes everyone trust them. When people trust a leader, the company does better and lasts longer. These leaders choose what’s right over what’s profitable, teach everyone else to be honest too, and fix problems right away when someone breaks the rules. They create companies where being good and fair is more important than making money.

Leaders who use this style:

• Paul Polman (Former Unilever CEO): Polman refused to give investors updates every three months because it made them focus on quick profits instead of doing what’s right for the planet. He made choices based on what was better for the environment, even if it meant making less money right away. His honest leadership showed that companies that care about the planet actually make more money in the long run.
• Ken Frazier (Former Merck CEO): Frazier stopped selling medicines that made lots of money when he found out they might hurt people. He always chose keeping patients safe over making profits, even when investors wanted more money. Because he always did the right thing for patients, government officials and sick people around the world trusted him and his company.
• Rose Marcario (Former Patagonia CEO): Marcario closed Patagonia stores on the busiest shopping day to tell people to help nature instead of buying stuff. She gave away company money to save the environment, even when owners wanted to keep it. By caring more about the planet than money, she actually helped Patagonia make more money because people liked buying from a company that does good things.

Closing Thoughts

The leadership styles in this guide show the different ways people can be leaders. Some leaders like to control everything, while others let their teams make most decisions. Some care most about getting work done, while others focus on making people happy. Together, these styles give us a complete picture of how leaders can act in different situations.

Controlling Leaders vs. Hands-Off Leaders

Some leaders like to be in charge of everything. These include bossy leaders (who make all decisions themselves), rule-following leaders (who stick to all the rules), and super-hard-working leaders (who work really hard and expect everyone else to do the same). These types of leadership work well in emergencies, when safety is really important, or when team members are new and need lots of help. Leaders like Gordon Ramsay in his kitchens and Martha Stewart in her business show how being controlling can get great results.

On the other side, some leaders prefer to step back and let their teams work on their own. These include hands-off leaders (who give very little direction), leaders who give big jobs to others, and leaders who help teams work together. These styles work best with workers who know what they’re doing and like having freedom. Warren Buffett letting his company managers run things themselves and Richard Branson trusting his teams show how giving people space can get amazing results.

Leaders Who Care About People vs. Leaders Who Care About Getting Things Done

Another big difference is between leaders who focus on people and leaders who focus on work. People-focused leaders like caring leaders, friendly leaders, and teaching leaders spend most of their time making sure their team members feel good, grow as people, and get along well with each other. Leaders like Howard Schultz at Starbucks and Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines show how caring about people often helps companies do better over time.

Work-focused leaders like goal leaders, work leaders, and results leaders care most about finishing projects, hitting targets, and getting things done well. Leaders like Andy Grove at Intel, Tim Cook at Apple, and Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase show how focusing on results can build really successful companies.

Leaders Who Change Based on the Situation

Some of the best leaders know they need to act differently in different situations. Flexible leaders, changing leaders, and teaching leaders look at what’s happening and change how they lead based on what their team needs right then. Leaders like Jeff Bezos, Angela Merkel, and Reid Hoffman are great examples of adaptive leaders.

Planning leaders and big-picture leaders are good at handling today’s work while also planning for the future. Leaders like Sundar Pichai at Google, Elon Musk at Tesla and SpaceX, and Reed Hastings at Netflix show how you can take care of today’s business while also getting ready for what’s coming next.

Leaders Who Like Working Together

Some leadership styles emphasize involving everyone in decision-making. Team leaders, sharing leaders, and including leaders believe that when different people share ideas and work together, they come up with better answers. Leaders like Indra Nooyi, Larry Page, and Marc Benioff show how including everyone and listening to different ideas makes companies stronger and more creative.

Leaders Who Care About Doing the Right Thing

Finally, some leaders focus on being honest, real, and doing what’s right even when it’s hard. Good leaders, real leaders, and inspiring leaders try to get others excited and make the world better. Leaders like Paul Polman, Brené Brown, and Steve Jobs show how sticking to what you believe in and caring about more than just money can build success that lasts.

What Does This All Mean?

What we see from all these leadership styles is that there are many different ways to be a good leader. The best leaders today don’t stick to just one way all the time. Instead, they learn how to use different ways based on what their team needs and what’s happening.

All 25 styles we discussed have been employed by winning leaders to help their teams, build great companies, and effect positive change. Some inspiring leaders get people excited about big dreams, while steady leaders ensure everything runs smoothly. Some caring leaders put people first, and goal leaders who hit every target – each style works somewhere. Learning about various leadership styles helps you identify effective leaders when you encounter them and provides ideas for how you might lead others in the future.