ABSTRACT
The research that resulted in our leadership styles model developed out of earlier cross-functional work into the value-creating or value-destroying roles of top teams at the centres of large companies. Utilizing a configurational approach, this research highlighted four ways in which a corporate centre can create value in a large multi-business organization. However, when we sought to apply this configurational approach to the potential leadership roles of the senior executives located within these various top teams, we were disappointed with the relevance of existing corporate leadership models. Our configurational model of shareholder value creation by corporate centres had been built up from a theoretical grounding in transaction cost economics and resource-based theory. By contrast, any economic benefits derived from corporate leadership seem to be largely implicit or assumed within these leadership theories. Leadership should not be done simply because it is a ‘good thing’ to do. It should be done because it enables a corporation to produce extraordinary results from an otherwise ordinary group of employees.
