Assessing Leadership Stylefrom all parts of the globe; the 122 leaders are drawn from forty-
eight countries and include, in addition to the 87 heads of state,
members of cabinets, revolutionary leaders, legislative leaders, lead-
ers of opposition parties, and terrorist leaders. The sample includes
leaders who held positions of authority from 1945 to the present.
Scores for particular regional, country, or cultural groups embedded
in these 122 leaders are available from the author.
Once the analyst has determined how a leader's scores compare to
those of other leaders, it is feasible to use the tables and discussion
presented earlier on the traits and leadership styles to develop a
profile of the leader. How is the leader likely to respond to con-
straints (scores on the belief he or she can control events and the need
for power)? How open is he or she likely to be to information (scores
on self-confidence and conceptual complexity)? What is the nature of
the leader's motivation for seeking authority and influence (score on
task focus as well as on in-group bias and distrust of others)? By not-
ing whether a leader is more likely to respect or challenge con-
straints, to be more or less open to information, and to be more inter-
nally or externally driven, the analyst can ascertain the particular
leadership style (see table 8.1) that leader is likely to exhibit.
Thus, for example, suppose we were developing a profile of Hafez
al-Assad, current head of state of Syria. And suppose his scores when
compared to the other eighty-seven heads of state show that he (i) is
high in the belief he can control events and in the need for power,
indicating he is likely to challenge constraints (see table 8.2); (2) has
a conceptual complexity score that is higher than his score for self-
confidence, suggesting he is open to incoming information (see table
8.3); (3) is high in task focus, denoting that his attention is more
centered around the problem rather than relationships; and (4) has an
in-group bias though he is relatively low in distrust of others, lead-
ing to a focus on being strategic in the way he deals with problems
(see table 8.5). According to table 8.1, Assad will evidence an
actively independent leadership style. He will be highly interested
in maintaining his own and Syria's maneuverability and indepen-
dence in a world that he perceives continually tries to limit both.
Although Assad perceives that the world is conflict prone, he also
views all countries as being somewhat constrained by international
norms, affording him some flexibility in what he can do. However,