You are a manager in a large company, and you are assigned to a mentor. Your mentor is very excited that you are taking this course and has therefore asked you to develop and share your own personal theory of leadership. Your mentor wants to make sure that your personal development is grounded in theory and practice and so has asked you to first demonstrate the foundation of your leadership approach. To do this, you will choose three theories—a combination of classic and contemporary—that you have studied in this course, in addition to selecting three leaders who exemplify your chosen theories. You will analyze each theory for its strengths and weaknesses and evaluate the leaders you have identified in relation to those theories. You will also identify and discuss three leaders who are anti-exemplary, as they will be used in the analysis portion of your project.
You will use the concepts and lessons from this part of the final project to inform the second part, in which you apply the theories to an organization and articulate your personal leadership philosophy.