For thirty-three years and through three editions, Bass & Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership has been the indispensable bible for every serious student of leadership. Throughout the Handbook, the contributions from cognitive social psychology and the social, political, communications, and administrative sciences have been expanded.
As in the third edition, Bernard Bass begins with a consideration of the definitions and concepts used, and a brief review of some of the better known theories. Professor Bass then focuses on the personal traits, tendencies, attributes, and values of leaders and the knowledge, intellectual competence, and technical skills required for leadership. Next he looks at leaders’ socioemotional talents and interpersonal competencies, and the differences in these characteristics in leaders who are imbued with ideologies, especially authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, and self-aggrandizement. A fuller examination of the values, needs, and satisfactions of leaders follows, and singled out for special attention are competitiveness and the preferences for taking risks. In his chapters on personal characteristics, Bass examines the esteem that others generally accord to leaders as a consequence of the leaders’ personalities.
Recommended by Toby Darby & Josh Wofford in Episode 8
