Three styles of Leadership Part I

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

In an essay entitled "Looking at Leadership" in ". . .A More Excellent way": Essays on Leadership for Latter-day Saints (1967) pgs 15-29,  Brother Neal A. Maxwell who later served in the Quorum of the Twelve, taught about three different styles of leadership.  Today we will focus on the first of the three methods he describes.

"There appear to be three basic leadership styles, each with its own limitations, advantages, variations, and spin-offs.  There is, first of all, manipulative leadership, ranging in its more sinister form from the Machiavellian kind on through to the kind of modest manipulation each of us at times may consciously or unconsciously practice on those around us.

Manipulative leadership has certain advantages:  it can at times give short-term results, solve a problem, or pass a crisis by manipulating people, feelings, and causes.  It can at times give the followers a sense of action and accomplishment, yet does not require the leader to take into account the feelings and ideas of the members of his group since he is free to manipulate them, to bypass them, or to use their naivete'.

The disadvantages of this form of leadership are:  it can be, and usually is, crushingly condescending:  it seeks to carry our the wishes of the leader and to meet his needs, not necessarily the needs of the group.  It can miscarry badly with an evil leader of end in chaos with a leader who is not sophisticated in his manipulation, and therefore, who is more apt to be exposed early.  It uses or ignores people and their feelings without aiming at their growth."(Church Education System , Principles of Leadership Teacher Manual, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City. 2001 pgs. 9-10)