What leadership style do most effective leaders use?

The best
answer to this is to say that the most effective leaders use all of the styles of leadership.  A
leader who is one-dimensional and can only use one style of leadership is most likely to be
effective only in a limited set of circumstances.  Empirical research has shown that different
styles of leadership work better in different situations.  

For example, when
a business or an organization needs to be taken in a new direction, the best kind of leadership
is visionary leadership.  When an organization has been demoralized and the people in that
organization do not trust one another, it is best to have an affiliative leader who can start to
patch things up and get the employees to work well together again.  An authoritarian style of
leadership is only really effective during times of crisis.  

In other words,
there is no one style of leadership that is best.  The most effective leaders are those who can
understand which style is needed at any given time and can effectively deploy the proper
style.

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