Quora Answer: What Leadership Style is the Most Effective?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What leadership style is the most effective?”

There is no such thing as a most effective leadership style.  The type of leader you need to be depends on a few considerations.  You need to consider the environment and culture of the organisation, or part of the organisation you are in.  You need to consider the abilities, capabilities, and tolerances of your human resource.  You need to consider the best tools to move the people to a specific vision, and the milestones needed along the way. 

The leadership style varies according to a command-type organisation, a non-profit, or a corporate environment.  Even within that organisation, different subgroups within that organisation may have distinct cultures, and that must be taken into account.  You have varying power relationships with different stakeholders, internal and external, and at different levels of the hierarchy. 

As such, an effective leader is flexible.  People are moved by self-interest.  Some are more competent than others.  Some are useful.  Some cannot be trusted.  A good leader is able to discern all that, and act accordingly.