Introduction

to Leadership
Communication

Ivana Mrozková
Božena Bednaříková
1. Leadership
Definition, Leaders vs. Managers,
Followership, Leadership,
and Communication Styles

1.1 Leadership (and Communication)

What is leadership and how does it relate to communication?

Some people say that leadership is not something performed
by “common” people, but only by those heading countries or
political parties, or chairing boards or working as the CEOs of
large organizations. They see leadership as only a top-level and
grand-scale activity, but the authors’ view is that throughout
our lives we will all find ourselves in situations that require
us to take the lead. At work we may be asked to organize a
meeting, workshop, or conference; at home we may decide
to organize a family reunion; at school we may help launch
a new activity for our fellow-students; in the street we may
witness an accident and want to assist those involved. These
are just a few illustrations of situations which would require
us to take the lead, and thus leadership skills are relevant to
us all, no matter what our level, and a crucial leadership skill
is that of communication. This text considers communication
skills we can all use both in leadership and followership roles
and in both grand-scale and everyday situations.
There are many definitions of leadership; what they have
in common is that they generally view it as a group activity,
connected with the exercise of power or influence by individu-

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als on others, involving a certain degree of collaboration, and
aimed at modifying the attitudes and behavior of others in
order to achieve a shared goal (Hackman and Johnson, 2004;
Northouse, 2001; Gardner, 1990; Burns, 2003).
The use of terms such as “influence” and “modify the atti-
tudes and behavior of others” may be disconcerting at first
sight if we focus on leaders getting other people to do what
they want. As followers we do not want to feel manipulated
and it is important to be aware of potential manipulation and
ways to avoid being manipulated, but our focus is on how
leaders can persuade people without manipulating them.
As human beings, we exist as part of society and must get
along with each other, which requires a degree of collaboration,
flexibility, and ‘give and take’, achieved through our influenc-
ing and modifying each other’s attitudes and behavior. manip-
ulation is when this use of influence and power becomes one-
sided and exploitative, so that the leader is actually attempting
to achieve results which are not part of a shared goal. Ray-
ment and Smith (2010) call this misLeadership.
An important issue that was discussed especially during the
pioneer times of leadership studies was the question of whether
leadership can be learned, in other words, whether leaders are
born or made (Gardner, 1990; Northouse, 2001; Matusak,
1997). It has been proven that even if many character traits
that influence our leadership skills are an inherent part of our
personality, we can identify our weak and strong points, try
to improve our performance, and even use our weak points
in such a way that we convert them into advantages. In fact,
the same happens in communication: some of us communi-
cate more freely, with less effort than others, but we all know
that mastery comes with study and practice. History provides
many examples of deficiencies being overcome, and by devot-
ing time and effort to studying and practicing communication
and leadership skills we can improve our effectiveness. Dem-
osthenes, who overcame his weak voice by practicing speeches

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over the noise of the tide, and the British king, George VI, who
learned how to deal with his shyness and stuttering, are two
examples out of many.

1.2 Leadership vs. Management

It is important to distinguish between leadership and man-

agement as these two terms are often treated as synonymous
when they actually deal with different issues. Leadership is
connected with vision and change, management with imme-
diate goals and maintaining the status quo (cf. Kouzes and
Posner, 1987, Gardner, 1990, and others). managers are con-
cerned with organization, planning, and controlling, while
leaders deal with strategies, communicating vision, motivat-
ing, and inspiring. This is not to say that the concepts of a
manager and leader should be positioned against each other;
on the contrary, a good leader should be a good manager and
vice versa.

1.3 Leadership and Followership

We have talked about leadership and leaders, but no leaders

and leadership can exist without followers, or constituents or
even subordinates as they are sometimes called. Indeed, the
communist regime in former Czechoslovakia collapsed because
the leaders suddenly found themselves without any followers
(see, for example, the former communist leader Miloš Jakeš
and his famous speech “Jako kůl v plotě” – Left standing alone).
We have established that leaders need followers. But do fol-
lowers need leaders? We think they do as a society needs a
certain structure and organization to be effective, and leaders
and followers are an integral part of these structures. What
is very important to realize is the concept of interchangeable
leadership, together with the concept of empowerment. In
contemporary society most leaders are not “for life” but their

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mandate is limited to a certain period of time. Interchange-
able leadership roles also mean that a person can be a leader
in one team/organization/institution and at the same time a
follower in another: an example might be a CEO of a com-
pany who is simultaneously serving on the advisory board
for the state government. Empowerment means that a leader
shares his/her power with his/her followers. We will explain
the concept in more detail in the chapter where we deal with
leadership and power.
Just as there are different types of leaders, there are also
different types of followers. Matusak (1997) recognizes three
main types of followers: docile sheep, alienated passive-ag-
gressive followers, and effective followers.
Docile sheep do what they are told to do; they do not com-
plain about anything but neither do they do anything more
than what is required of them. Some sheep can be helped to
grow into effective followers with encouragement, motiva-
tion, and more responsibility; however, some are content to be
sheep and they are happy when left alone.
Alienated passive-aggressive followers exist in almost
every group of people. They are the complainers: nothing is
right for them; the work is too hard, they are not appreci-
ated enough, the leader is either too weak or too hard and
demanding. Again, more responsibility and appreciation can
sometimes help to turn them into effective followers, but
some only get more alienated and more resentful and they
become toxic for the atmosphere in the whole team and then
the best solution is to part with them and dismiss them from
the team.
Effective followers are the dream of every good leader.
They support the leader but they do not follow blindly, which
means the leader should be prepared to listen to their sugges-
tions and also constructive criticism, which is aimed at the
improvement of the organization and its activities, not just
negative criticism of the leader’s personal qualities. Effective

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followers are highly motivated and dedicated to the common
vision they share with the leader and the other followers. They
can work independently, and the leader often shares power
with them.

1.4 Leadership Styles and Leadership

Communication Styles

We have discussed followership in the previous part, and

now we will turn our attention back to leadership and lead-
ership styles. Each leader has his or her favorite and prevalent
leadership style. Many books and scholarly works, as well as
research, are aimed at the identification of these styles and sug-
gesting the best style for a particular situation, context, activ-
ity, or group of followers. Only the most frequently-studied
and researched styles and approaches will be mentioned from
the truly vast field of leadership theories.
The most traditional approach to leadership style is the trait
approach, which tries to determine which character traits and
features are indispensable in a leader, and, on the contrary,
which ones should be suppressed. This approach can be found
in many philosophical works and historical texts (cf. Machia-
velli’s The Prince).
Another well-established theory of leadership is the theory
of situational leadership. The leader chooses his/her approach
towards his/her followers according to the situation, the goal
to be achieved, and the characteristics of the followers. There
are four basic leadership styles recognized by this theory: Del-
egating, Supporting, Coaching, and Directing.
There are many other theoretical approaches, e.g., the style
approach (dividing the leader’s behavior into task behavior and
relationship behavior), contingent leadership (similarly focus-
ing on the style-setting match, again with relationship-moti-
vated and task-motivated leadership styles), path-goal lead-
ership, servant leadership, invisible leadership, and many

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others. In the next chapter we will provide more details about
transformational and charismatic leadership.
Finally, let us mention leadership communication styles.
Hackman and Johnson offer a very clear and understandable
division into authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire
(no leadership, absence of leadership) leadership communi-
cation styles. The communication style is derived from the
prevalent leadership style used by the leader. We can also use
another division, which, as its main feature, considers the
leader’s approach towards the goal and the followers: we can
distinguish a task-oriented communication style or a inter-
personal-oriented communication style. We will use a classi-
fication from the communication theory point of view in the
next chapter.

Suggestions for further reading

Matusak, L. R.: Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead …

Anywhere You Want to Make a Difference. Jossey-Bass, 1997.
Johnson, C., Hackman, M.: Leadership. A
Communication Perspective. Waveland Press, 2004.
Northouse, P. G.: Leadership. Theory and Practice. Sage, 2001. 2nd.
Gardner, J.: On Leadership. Free Press, 1990.

Suggestion for further thought

Watch the leadership skills in the film Apollo 13 (1995,

dir. Ron Howard) and the development of leadership
in Sister Act 1 (1992, dir. Emile Ardolino).

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2. Transformational
Leadership
Charismatic Leadership, Charisma,
Communication, and Leadership

In the previous chapter we introduced some basic terms of

leadership studies: leadership, followership, leaders, and fol-
lowers; we brought up the difference between leadership and
management, and we analyzed leadership styles as viewed
by the different schools of leadership studies. In this chapter
we will focus on transformational and transactional leader-
ship, terms coined by Burns in the ’70s. The transformational
leadership theory is one of the most popular leadership theo-
ries, especially because of its emphasis on ethics, on the moral
qualities of the leader, and the attention paid to followers. The
critics of this theory point out deficiencies in its methodolog-
ical background as the concepts of morality, ethics, and cha-
risma used in the theory are difficult to define and measure by
objective instruments in specific contexts.

2.1 Transformational Leadership

James MacGregor Burns (1918–2014), a US historian and

political scientist, was interested in issues concerning lead-
ership throughout his whole academic career. He became
famous outside academic circles as a presidential biographer;
in 1971, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his work Roosevelt:
Soldier of Freedom. In 1978 he published the first edition of

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Leadership, a work that is considered one of the cornerstones
of leadership studies as a scholarly discipline. Here Burns
introduced the terms “transformational” (or transforming
as it is sometimes called) and “transactional” leadership for
the first time.
Transformational and transactional leadership styles are
complementary styles that leaders use in different situations
with different goals. Transformational leadership stresses the
ethics and morality of the leader’s acts, and the fact that during
the leadership process the leader changes himself/herself for
the better. One of the most important features of this lead-
ership style is the attention paid to the followers: the leader
should be attentive to the needs of his/her followers, and he/
she should help them to reach their full potential, to empower
them. By empowerment we mean sharing power: the leader
shares power with the followers, which, under the right cir-
cumstances (with active followers involved), has a synergetic
effect; power is not diminished but, on the contrary, it is
multiplied. World-famous transformational leaders included
Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Václav Havel.
Transactional leadership focuses on exchanges, positive or
negative: if you do something for me, I will do something else
for you, or I will give you something, or, if you do something
for me, I will not punish you. Politicians promising to lower
taxes, CEOs giving bonuses to employees for outstanding
work, parents banning their children from using computers
for not tidying their rooms etc. are typical examples of trans-
actional leaders.
As stated before, both styles are complementary; we cannot
say that transformational leadership is good and a transac-
tional leadership style is bad. Each style can be effective in
a different situation, and one leader can use both of these
styles; however, it is the prevalent style that helps us to classify
a leader as a transformational or transactional leader. We can
also see that from a long-term perspective transformational

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leadership has more lasting results as it involves the change of
both the leader and followers. Let us take an example from the
educational context: a student can learn something in order to
pass an exam and get credits (transactional), but the knowl-
edge will last longer if the student is motivated and persuaded
(by a teacher) that what he/she learned will be used in his/her
future work/studies, and will help him/her to become a bet-
ter expert, to get a better job etc. (transformational). We can
use another example from the context of a family: a child can
tidy his/her room because otherwise his/her parents will pun-
ish him/her, or because they will give him/her a reward, e.g.,
money (transactional), or the child can tidy the room because
he/she knows that his/her parents will have more time to
spend together with their children having fun, or that they
will live in a better environment (transformational).

Table 1.
Transformational and transactional leadership

Ethics, morality

Attentive to the needs of

Transformational
leadership followers

Helps followers to reach their

full potential (empowerment)

In the process the leader

changes himself/herself
Transactional leadership

Focus on exchanges

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2.2 Charismatic Leadership

Transformational leadership theory is sometimes grouped

together with the charismatic leadership theory created by
House, as it also stresses ethical values and the visionary
aspects of leadership. most people will agree that a leader
should have something that attracts followers, that helps
him/her to persuade others. This something, called a “spar-
kle” in popular language a long time ago, is charisma. Nort-
house describes charisma as “a special gift that select individ-
uals possess that gives them the capacity to do extraordinary
things” (Northouse, 2001:133).
The concept of charisma was introduced by Weber (1947)
and defined as a special personality trait that gives a person
exceptional powers, something that is reserved just for a few,
and is of divine origin. However, despite being a superhuman
gift, for charisma it is necessary to be recognized and vali-
dated by others: a person is considered charismatic through
the eyes (and minds) of others. It means that a person can-
not decide “I will be a charismatic leader from now on”. It
is also true that the charisma of a person can be recognized
by a certain group of people and considered non-existent by
another. This was the case of Czech and US presidential can-
didates (George W. Bush, Karel Schwarzenberg), of cultural
icons (rappers, alternative music), celebrities, and others.
There are certain characteristics and behaviors which are
typical of charismatic leadership. A charismatic leader is dom-
inant and self-confident; he/she has a strong desire to influ-
ence others, and has developed a good sense of his/her own
values. Charismatic leaders often serve as role models; they
appear competent in activities and situations they choose to
be involved in. They frequently stress the moral and ethical
values present in their visions and goals, and they have high
expectations for their followers, features they have in com-
mon with transformational leaders. The followers have to be

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careful when following a charismatic (or any other) leader,
as the goals and solutions presented as the right, ethical, and
moral ones can, after closer assessment, be seen as unethical,
immoral, and even evil. Hitler ’s and Stalin’s struggles for the
“well-being of the German people/the working class”, as they
called it, are only the most blatant examples of charismatic
leadership gone very wrong.

2.3 Communication and Leadership

From the overview of the basic concepts and theories of

leadership as already mentioned, we can see that communica-
tion is regarded as a crucial leadership skill. In every scholarly
work on leadership we read that a leader should be a good
communicator, that he/she has to have an ability to articulate
his/her vision to his/her followers, and so on. Hackman and
Johnson (2004) even define leadership as a specific form of
communication, with the aim of influencing and persuading
others and conveying the leader’s visions and goals.
Therefore it is interesting to notice that it is only in the
last 15 years (since 2000) that the focus of leadership scholars
started to include leadership communication, and an interdis-
ciplinary approach blending the findings of leadership studies,
sociology, political science, and linguistics, the theory of com-
munication, and media studies. This textbook is another small
contribution.

2.4 Communication Styles

We have already mentioned leadership communication

styles in the previous chapter, where we used a division of
communication styles based on the leadership style used by a
leader. Now we will divide communication styles according to
distinctive features of communication exchanges and typical
characteristics of communication acts. In this sense we rec-

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ognize three basic styles and one “blended” style: assertive,
aggressive, passive, and fake passive.

Table 2. Communication styles

Communication style Examples

Recognition of others

Effective listener

Direct
Assertive
Honest

Negotiation

Compromise

Absence of listening

Domineering

Aggressive Sarcastic

Know-it-all attitude

Abuse

Hesitations

Hedges
Passive
Scared

Unsure

Hesitations, hedges
Fake passive
Strong opinion

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 Recognition of other people, negotiation, and the ability to
compromise are typical of the assertive communication style.
A person using this style is an effective listener, and he/she is
direct and honest when communicating. On the other hand, an
absence of listening, domineering, and even abuse of the other
members of the communication situation is a fundamental
characteristic of the aggressive communication style, as are
a sarcastic tone and know-it-all attitude used by the speaker.
The third type, the passive communication style, comes across
to the receiver as unsure; the speaker can even appear scared,
and his/her messages are full of uncertainty, which can be
expressed in language by hesitation markers such as “ahem,
ahem”, “well”, and “eh”, and by hedges (utterances that limit
the objectivity and truthfulness of the message – see more in
the chapter on communication and power), such as “I guess”
and “I think”.
We have added one more style which was typical of the first
Czech President, Václav Havel: the fake passive style, a blend
of the passive and assertive styles. Václav Havel´s communi-
cation style appeared passive as it was full of hesitations and
hedges, and it showed humility and respect for others, but on
the other hand, Václav Havel never ceased to express strong
opinions.
Václav Havel, playwright, one of the best authors of absurd
dramas, dissident during the communist era in Czechoslo-
vakia, and later the President of post-communist Czecho-
slovakia and the first President of the new Czech Republic,
created a new style not only in communication, but also in
politics and leadership. He refuted the notion that leaders
always have to be strong and authoritarian, that they are
weak when they listen to others, when they share power.
Therefore Václav Havel is often mentioned as an excellent
example of a transformational leader, and his speeches (e.g.,
his speech in the US Congress) are quoted in many leader-
ship textbooks.

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 On the other hand, Václav Klaus, who succeeded Václav
Havel as the Czech President, is often seen as a transac-
tional leader. His leadership style was transformational in
the first years of his career as the Minister of Finance, and
later as the first Czech Prime Minister, when he helped to
change the socialist economy into a market one, but soon
became transactional, more focused on staying in power
than moral principles. A typical example of such a transac-
tion was the so-called opposition agreement in 1998, when
he supported the winning Social Democrats, whom he had
despised just a few weeks before that, in exchange for the
position of the Head of the Parliament and other positions
that ensured he would have influence in politics and the
economy. Václav Klaus is a typical example of the aggres-
sive communication style; he is arrogant and self-conscious,
and he often attacks and humiliates not only his opponents
but his counterparts in communication generally, whom
he treats as inferior.
We will have a closer look at specific characteristics of com-
munication and at various communication techniques we can
use in different communication situations and contexts in the
next chapters of our textbook.

Suggestions for further reading:

Matusak, L. R.: Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead …

Anywhere You Want to Make a Difference. Jossey-Bass, 1997
Johnson, C., Hackman, M.: Leadership. A
Communication Perspective. Waveland Press, 2004
Northouse, P. G.: Leadership. Theory and Practice. Sage, 2001. 2nd.
Burns, J. M.: Transforming Leadership: A New Pursuit
of Happiness. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003

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