Summary

The co-author of the McKinsey Award-winning Harvard Business Review article "Power Is the Great Motivator" revisits his collaboration with noted psychologist Dr. David C. McClelland. His follow-up research study results in the startling conclusion that the way outstanding leaders think about leading others has profoundly changed over the last 20 years. The current data shows that a new way of thinking is driving success in today’s complex organizational environment.

Through this article, we enter the mind of the world-class leader. We learn how "InterActive Leaders" consistently deliver top-quartile business results and high employee morale by changing their paradigm of leadership---leadership is not something we do to others, but something we do with others. Through this lens, leaders see the people they lead as the source of power and an ultimate font of ideas, solutions and possibilities. They realize that results do not energize people; rather, energized people drive results.

The full text of this paper is available here.

What makes or motivates a good manager? This article attempts to answer that question by using the degree of a person's need for power as a measure of success. McClelland and Burnham studied managers in large U.S. corporations. They also surveyed the managers' subordinates to determine how effective the managers were and to isolate the characteristics of those who created high morale. Their conclusions? The better managers tended to score high in their need for power--that is, their desire to influence people--and that need outweighed their need to be liked. The authors also found that the most effective managers controlled their desire for power so that it was directed toward the benefit of the institution as a whole. In his retrospective commentary, David McClelland considers his earlier findings in light of his research into two important changes that have occurred in the workplace since HBR first published this article 19 years ago: large hierarchical organizations have flattened out, and female managers have entered the workplace in full force.

The full text of this paper is available from Harvard Business Review

The complete David C McClelland Bibliography