Mitt Romney Leadership
Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney had a very different leadership style from that of our current second term president, Barack Obama. The republican candidate was careful, calculated, and business-like. Romney saw the concern with the American public and the future of their economy, and took that as his window of opportunity to win the majority of the votes. Although unsuccessful, Romney did show some grit and a great effort towards the finish. (Allen & Vandehei, 2012)
The leadership style Mitt Romney and his campaign went with at the end was one that matched closest in my eyes to that of the Path-Goal leadership theory. With the economy on the brink of another recession, and some questioning the ability of the president to guide the country into prosperity, the Romney campaign claimed to have the answer. They constantly brought up his past experience and current business financial knowledge. They next pointed their high goals for the country and this economy and stated that given the opportunity to lead, they would bring the country there. By using achievement-oriented leadership, Governor Romney attended to the needs of his subordinates while setting goals and laying out the path (or at least claiming to have the path) they needed to follow to get there. (Northouse, 2010)
Another thing I found interesting about Romney’s leadership style was the base of his power. In our textbook we learned about the five bases of power discovered by research done in 1959 by French and Raven. Those five bases are referent power, expert power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. Of those five bases, Romney seems to have his power of influence from expert power, which is “power based on followers’ perceptions of the leaders’ competence.” (Northouse, 2010) In this case, the American people see Romney as a business expert, or someone who has sufficient competence on how to revive our shaky economy and fix the national debt. The expert power that Romney
The leadership style Mitt Romney and his campaign went with at the end was one that matched closest in my eyes to that of the Path-Goal leadership theory. With the economy on the brink of another recession, and some questioning the ability of the president to guide the country into prosperity, the Romney campaign claimed to have the answer. They constantly brought up his past experience and current business financial knowledge. They next pointed their high goals for the country and this economy and stated that given the opportunity to lead, they would bring the country there. By using achievement-oriented leadership, Governor Romney attended to the needs of his subordinates while setting goals and laying out the path (or at least claiming to have the path) they needed to follow to get there. (Northouse, 2010)
Another thing I found interesting about Romney’s leadership style was the base of his power. In our textbook we learned about the five bases of power discovered by research done in 1959 by French and Raven. Those five bases are referent power, expert power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power. Of those five bases, Romney seems to have his power of influence from expert power, which is “power based on followers’ perceptions of the leaders’ competence.” (Northouse, 2010) In this case, the American people see Romney as a business expert, or someone who has sufficient competence on how to revive our shaky economy and fix the national debt. The expert power that Romney
Cited: Allen, M., & Vandehei, J. (2012, September 16). Politico.com. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81280.html Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and Practice (5th Edition ed.). Los Angeles, CA, USA: Sage Publications.