The Traits and Challenges of Leadership Styles
Michael Barnard
IET 501
October 8, 2021
Central Michigan University
Leadership is arguably the most critical skill for effective management. The difference
between good leadership and bad leadership can be the difference in success or failure in a
company, no matter how technically proficient the company is. One of the most difficult things
about leadership is training and developing leadership in a young manager. People used to view
leadership as something you’re born with, not developed, however, due to an expansion in
research on the topic of leadership, developing and training it is now viewed as a skill that can be
developed.
One of the difficulties with developing leadership however is how broad the concept of
leadership is. There are a multitude of leadership styles: transactional leaders, charismatic
leaders, transformational leaders, servant leaders and more. All these different styles contain a
wide variety of behavioral traits, some like others and some that are wildly different. For
