Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew successfully made use of all the bases of power to cooperate with his leadership skills. He efficiently made use of reward power to keep the loyalty of elites in the government. He made use of coercive power to punish those who fail to meet his requirements throughout the constructions of a modern Singapore. He has sufficient expert power to plan the appropriate policies for the transformation of Singapore and lead it out from crisis, and have great referent power to motivate his subordinates and peoples to carry out his plans. His ability no doubt contributes to his success.

Lee Kuan Yew is no doubt a transformational leader too. Instead being controlled by circumstances, he created opportunities and circumstances. He had a clear vision of what Singapore’s road should be after the independent from Malaysia. Also, he could make use of his charisma to, not only gained the heart of his peoples, won the confidence of foreign investors by selling Singapore as the well-prepared Southeast Asian country for investment. He also inspirationally motivates his subordinates and peoples by setting a good example of a person with great integrity. He also made his government found meaning in executing certain policies by providing a challenging yet attainable goal, to make Singapore stands out among all Asian countries. Viewing from the theory of transformational leadership, Lee Kuan Yew seemed a little bit discredited by failing to intellectually stimulate the thoughts of his subordinates. This was because he was an autocratic man who completely intolerant to opposition, he would not encourage individual to have critical thinking but to obey. He also seemed fail to consider everyone as a unique person and concern the growth of every subordinate. However, we should not be so tight in the assessment. To us, the most important characteristics of a successful transformation leader should be that they possess the vision and possess the ability to make