LOS ANGELES – In my 31 years working for the same city, I served under five City Managers. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, and each had unique leadership styles. One encouraged me to go into performance auditing in the early 1990’s. Working with those City Managers, numerous department heads, and many mid-managers, and being a manager myself, I learned a lot about leadership. Performance auditing taught me the technical aspects of leadership, and personal experience showed me the practical ramifications of different leadership styles.
I learned there is no single “correct” leadership style for all organizations and all situations. Effective leaders adapt to changing conditions while maintaining a consistent vision for their organizations.
There are different paths to successful leadership, and there are just as many paths to failure…