The origins of vision - Charismatic versus ideological leadership

Although numerous studies have examined the influence of vision on outstanding leadership, relatively little is known about how leaders create, or construct, a meaningful vision. Recently, however, a theory of vision formation has been proposed, which holds that visions arise from prescriptive mental models formulated by leaders following reflection on key causes and goals. One implication of this theory is that different styles of vision-based outstanding leadership will emerge depending on whether these prescriptive models stress personal values and standards (ideological leaders) or social needs and change requirements (charismatic leaders). To test this proposition, biographies of 60 notable historic leaders, both personalized and socialized leaders, were obtained and content coded with respect to ideological and charismatic behaviors as well as historic outcomes. In a series of multivariate analyses, support was obtained for the ideological and charismatic distinction. Implications for understanding vision-based outstanding leadership are discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.