Assessing Leadership Stylein which they find themselves; there is a perception that individuals
and governments can influence what happens. In coding for belief in
control over events, the focus is on verbs or action words. We assume
that, when leaders take responsibility for planning or initiating an
action, they believe that they have some control over what happens.
The focus here is on actions proposed or taken by the leader or by a
group with whom he or she identifies. A score on this trait is deter-
mined by calculating the percentage of times the verbs in an inter-
view response indicate that the speaker or a group with whom the
speaker identifies has taken responsibility for planning or initiating
an action. The overall score for any leader is the average of this per-
centage across the total number of interview responses being exam-
ined.
Leaders who believe that they can influence what happens in the
world are generally more interested and active in the policy-making
process. Those who are high in this trait will want to maintain con-
trol over decision making and implementation to ensure that things,
indeed, do happen. After all, if they are not involved, something may
go awry. Thus, such leaders are likely to call subordinates to check
on what they are doing, to make surprise visits to places where pol-
icy is being implemented, and to be interested in meeting face-to-
face with other leaders to see how far they are willing to go. Leaders
high in this belief are less likely to delegate authority for tasks and
are likely to initiate activities and policies rather than wait for others
to make suggestions. They are often "running ideas up the flagpole
to see who salutes them." In some sense this trait has aspects of a self-
fulfilling prophecy. Leaders who believe that they can affect what
happens are more likely to initiate and oversee activities to ensure
that policies are enacted; they are more likely to take charge because
they perceive they can influence events. Moreover, because such lead-
ers are so sure they can have an impact on the world, they are less
prone to compromise or to work out a deal with others. Once they
decide, they exude confidence in their decision—they know what
should be done.
Leaders who are low in the belief that they can control what hap-
pens tend to be more reactive to situations, waiting to see how the
situation is likely to play out before acting. They are less likely to
take initiatives, preferring instead to let others take the responsibil-