Authoritative Leadership: Definition, Benefits and Examples

When you hear someone defined as an authoritative leader, does it intimidate you? While some leadership styles have negative connotations in the business world, a deeper dive reveals that authoritative leaders have strong qualities that both motivate and support their employees.

Authoritative leaders can organize their team around a common goal and inspire team members to work together as one cohesive unit. As with all leadership styles, there are some blind spots that come with this leadership style.

James O’Donnell

Daniels College of Business adjunct professor James O’Donnell has seen the strengths and weaknesses associated with authoritative leadership during his career. O’Donnell’s expertise in leadership development was honed at Vail Resorts, where he held C-suite roles overseeing mountain operations, retail and rental operations, hospitality, real estate development, and mergers and acquisitions.

He’s had authoritative leaders and been one himself, and he shared more about its characteristics, benefits, challenges and how it differs from other leadership styles.

Definition of Authoritative Leadership

Authoritative leadership is also sometimes called visionary leadership and is defined by leading with a clear vision that inspires people, while also giving people the independence to do their own decision making.

Daniel Goleman, renowned psychologist and author of Emotional Intelligence, said the phrase “come with me” helps describe authoritative leaders. He added that this leadership style often has self-confidence and empathy and are strong change catalysts.

In O’Donnell’s career, his best managers employed authoritative leadership tactics and led not from a place of fear, but from a position of respect.

“This is somebody who gives clear direction on a project and is a strong motivator,” he said. “What I found in good authoritative leaders is that instead of leading from fear, the motivation of the team is that people respect you as a leader so much and don’t want to let you down. I try to emulate that.”

Characteristics of an Authoritative Leader

Authoritative leaders match a long-term focus with high emotional intelligence, helping drive their organization forward. In doing so, some of the most common characteristics of an authoritative leader are:

• Vision-driven
• Confident and optimistic
• Strong emotional intelligence
• Supportive of innovation and creativity
• A long-term view
• Ability to inspire commitment

“Good leaders in that authoritative space provide guidance but don’t micromanage,” O’Donnell said. “One way that I’ve embraced that is telling the team after providing guidance to come to me if you get stuck. I want you to be creative. I want you to try to be solution oriented. The only thing that I don’t want you to do is not come to me if you need help.”

Pros and Cons of Authoritative Leadership

Though Goleman says that authoritative leadership has an overall strong impact on company culture, there are a few instances where it can be lacking. O’Donnell used his career experiences to explain the positive and negative aspects of authoritative leadership.

Benefits of Authoritative Leadership

This style often helps create a positive work environment, where employees feel united around a common goal. It also places a high priority on long-term impact, encouraging the organization to create solutions that will stand the test of time.

Across O’Donnell’s career, he also saw this style create positive impacts on employee retention and development.

“It’s a good strategy and long-term plan for cultivating and fostering and growing talent,” he said. “I’m a big believer that your job as a leader, your number one priority, is to develop somebody to get ready to take your job.”

By rallying employees around a shared vision and allowing them to chart their own plan forward, authoritative leaders offer a strong balance between hands-on and hands-off management. This gives employees autonomy and crucial opportunities for growth.

Challenges and Limitations

While authoritative leadership has its clear benefits, there are instances where it may not be the most effective leadership style. With highly skilled teams, a more democratic approach may work more effectively, as it encourages collaboration from a team of experts. In crisis situations, this leadership style may not be suited to making challenging, quick decisions. It also has the potential to overlook short-term goals and requires a large amount of credibility and trust to enact.

Authoritative Leadership vs. Other Styles

Authoritative vs. Authoritarian Leadership

It’s worth noting that authoritative leadership is vastly different from authoritarian leadership, despite the similar spelling. Authoritarian leadership gives leaders unrestricted power, often leading to full control of a team and little individual autonomy.

“The leaders that I have seen who more of that authoritarian style are the micromanagers,” O’Donnell said. “They have to have full control and authority versus those who are more authoritative.”

He added that the authoritative style also helps an organization deploy its resources more effectively.

“The authoritative leadership style is much more efficient,” he said. “Authoritarian can create bottlenecks where you are a single point of approval or failure.”

Comparing to Common Leadership Styles

There are a variety of other leadership styles, depending on the list you look at. Goleman’s six leadership styles are based on emotional intelligence, and he describes each with a short motto. They are:

• Authoritative Leadership: “Come with me”
• Coaching Leadership: “Try this”
• Affiliative Leadership: “People come first”
• Democratic Leadership: “What do you think”
• Pacesetting Leadership: “Do as I do, now”
• Coercive Leadership: “Do what I tell you”

In different situations, different leadership styles might be required. O’Donnell said good leaders are often more than just one archetype.

“The key to being a good leader is leading or working with range,” he said. “You have your certain way that you like to lead and work, but it’s important to know how to flex during times where you might need to be something else.”

How to Implement Authoritative Leadership

Steps to Becoming an Effective Authoritative Leader

Leadership courses are a great way to practice your authoritative leadership, as they provide a supportive environment to take risks and make mistakes. O’Donnell said these offerings allow you to test out your leadership styles.

“In the education space, the leaders you will be working for or working with are your instructors or classmates,” he said. “They allow you to start practicing your skills and the university environment is a perfect environment to do so.”

Daniels offers a variety of leadership courses across undergraduate, graduate and Executive Education offerings. So, whether you’re a seasoned professional or looking to break into an industry, Daniels has a course that can fit your needs.

Key Takeaways on Authoritative Leadership

Authoritative leadership is a marriage of confidence and collaboration, direction-setting and democracy. Whether you’re looking to create open communication or improve team dynamics, this leadership style can be a helpful answer. And if you choose this path, O’Donnell’s closing recommendation is to do so with universal respect.

“I think it’s very tough for you to call yourself an authoritative leader if you’re also viewed in the organization as someone who manages effectively up [the organizational chart] but might not work well peer-to-peer and treats subordinates poorly,” O’Donnell said. “I say treat everybody with the same, very high level of respect.”

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