The George W. Bush brand of leadership is at best "retro"
A very iteresting HBS Working Knowledge article by David Gergen on what kind of leader Geroge W. Bush is:
We have seen this kind of tough, decisive leadership before—in Jack Welch at General Electric, George Patton on the battlefield, Bobby Knight on the basketball court. But we don't often see this brand of leadership in the presidency, and it very much runs against the grain of current leadership studies. Bill Clinton, for example, was studiously non-hierarchical and would look at every problem from a multitude of perspectives before slowly and painstakingly arriving at a policy position; George H.W. Bush consulted widely on international problems, relied upon old friendships, built up coalitions—and only then acted. George W. Bush, by contrast, is in some respects more similar to Franklin Roosevelt, as journalist Jonathan Rauch recently wrote in a widely noted National Journal piece. FDR was also a big risk taker, liked bold, dramatic policies that shook up the landscape, and was often accused of public deception. But FDR was also much more of a public educator than Bush, talking people carefully through the challenges and choices the nation faced, cultivating public opinion, building up a sturdy foundation of support before he acted. As he showed during the lead-up to World War II, he would never charge as far in front of his followers as Bush. If anything, Bush more closely resembles Teddy Roosevelt: TR would have loved the Koerner painting and instantly seen in Bush another rough rider. Still, it is worth remembering that TR was also an intensely curious man of immense learning, who read as much as a book a day in the White House.
The command-and-control approach was still in vogue for CEOs when Bush studied at the Harvard Business School in the mid-1970s, and there is little doubt that as the first MBA president, he reflects his training. But in much of leadership studies today, that style is distinctly retro. The consensus in the field now holds that the person at the top should engage in consensual, collaborative leadership. Don't issue orders or fiats, but persuade and gently bring others around to your point of view. Since no one has a monopoly on wisdom—indeed, reality itself may be socially constructed by the most powerful in society—a public leader, more than leaders in any other arenas, should seek multiple perspectives, inviting voices of dissent. Let wisdom rise to the top instead of sending orders down. Deliberate, negotiate, collaborate, and then collaborate some more. Perhaps this is a caricature, but if you thumb through the pages of the many new books on leadership, you will find those precepts. Indeed, I have taught them myself. But with a nonchalant wave of the hand, Bush goes his own way. He's very much his own man.