Research Assignment

In this research assignment you are to research and assess real-life leaders. I would recommend that you may wish to consult a site such as www.leadershipgeeks.com as they provide nice short write-ups on a wide range of leaders within the areas of business, military, politics, and sports.

To complete this assignment, select a leader from the site (or conduct your own research to find a real-life leader you wish to research), review the leaders profile (feel free to conduct additional research as well), and then answer the following questions:

Section #1:

Identify your selected leader (I recommend checking out the leaders in www.leadershipgeeks.com) and provide a link to the leaders profile (this is so that I can also find and read up on your chosen leader);

Provide a brief description of what you feel are your leaders most notable achievements

Section #2: State your assessment of what leadership style (autocratic, democratic or laissez-faire) this individual best personifies. You will likely also have to identify a period of their career or a specific incident, as effective leaders tend to change their leadership style based on the specific situations that they face. Also provide supporting evidence as to why you feel that your stated leadership style best personifies your chosen leader.

Section #3: Identify who the leaders followers are or were, and what their needs were. Note: as with section 2, this will likely mean that you would have to select a particular point in history or a specific event, as a leaders followers change over time, as do the followers needs. Understanding the leaders followers is key to understanding the leader.

Section #4:

Referring to the Combining the Big Five with Traits and Needs assessment table (see Exhibit 2.3 on page 45 of the textbook), describe your chosen leaders primary personality characteristics, leadership traits and achievement motivation.

Rank the leader using the Blake, Mouton and McCanse Leadership Grid (see page 76 of the textbook).

Section #5: Explain why you feel that the leaders combination of personality characteristics, leadership traits and motivation allowed your leader to be successful. Make sure to include actual situational and environmental characteristics that were in place that made this leaders particular leadership style effective.