They were not logical cases of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Instead, they were tales of dynamic change and bold action. In one case, for example, manufacturing productivity was improved more than 400 percent in one year. Finally, they put all this to the test by initially surveying more than three thousand leaders and their constituents, to assess the extent to which these leaders exemplified the practices. The results of their research have been striking both in their refutation of the leader stereotype and in their consistency.
Leaders do exhibit certain distinct practices when they are doing their best.
And this behavior varies little from industry to industry, profession to profession, community to community, country to country. Good leadership, they have shown, is an understandable and a universal process.