Leading yourself and leading others: Linking self-leadership to transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership

It has often been proposed that one must lead oneself before being able to lead others (e.g., Drucker, Citation1999; Manz & Sims, Citation1991; Pearce, Citation2007). In two studies, we empirically investigated associations among self-leadership (with subfacets) and the full range leadership model (transformational, transactional, laissez-faire leadership) in N = 447 professionals with leadership experience (Study 1) and N = 35 leaders with N = 151 followers (Study 2). In both studies, leaders' self-leadership was positively associated with active styles of leading (transformational and transactional leadership) and negatively with passive styles of leading (laissez-faire leadership), as indicated by self- and follower-reports. These relationships remained even after controlling for sex, age, and leadership experience. Overall, data support the notion that effectively leading oneself is associated with effectively leading others.