Rajeev Peshawaria, CEO, The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre

What do Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Lee Kuan Yew have in common? If you’re thinking they each created a better future through their remarkable leadership in business and society, you would be correct.  If you’re also thinking their leadership style was more autocratic than democratic, that would be correct too.  What? Autocratic leadership creates a better future? Could it really be true?

Paul J. Zak, PhD, Professor, Claremont Graduate University

Fear or love?  At the most basic level, these are a leader's choices when seeking to motivate followers. Most managers, perhaps due to some hangover from the eighteenth century, lead by fear because, well, it works. Fear may not be explicit, though some managers still scream and yell, but it is often implicit in the "do this or you're out" approach.

Today, we hear a lot about seemingly squishy leadership approaches like "empathy," "humanity" and even "love."  Many business leaders I know would be happy to be Mr. or Ms. Nice at work but they have a feeling that this leadership style is not going to get the job done.  Or, at least that has been the prevailing wisdom.