The impacts of different leadership styles don't just affect one person, they can affect generations of leaders both positively and negatively. I have personally known great leaders and others who were not. I would like to focus on a leader I had before and how that affects my leadership today. He was my battalion commander and, for lack of better words, he was a total dictator. This left the battalion afraid of him. I want to talk about stance versus personal power, legitimate power versus referent power, and compliance versus commitment looking at my personal experience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In my experience with my battalion commander, he used his position to gain power. He knew he was the battalion commander and always wanted to show his power. I once waited in the battalion for the commander for a meeting at 2 p.m. until he wandered into his office at 4 p.m. As a subordinate leader, this made me feel his respect for others harshly. He made sure that when he arrived, I knew he was in charge. He would threaten company commanders daily if they had ideas different from his. “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want because they want to do it” (Eisenhower, nd). I quickly learned that personal power is better. I've found that if you get to know your subordinates and peers, you can get them to do anything. Not just doing anything, but wanting to do things without even having to ask. By building a positive, personal repertoire with others, we will build a more cohesive team. Looking at this leader, I feel like he used legitimate power because of his position and rank in the organization to lead. I think if he had used referral power, he would have had more success within the organization and could have transformed it for the better. As a commander myself, I learned that the team's mutual trust, respect and admiration would allow them to accomplish whatever was put to them. “People, when fully and rightly trusted, will reciprocate their trust” (Lincoln, n.d.). Due to the battalion commander's lack of trust, it was extremely difficult to work and accomplish the army's mission. In this unit, there was more respect for orders given than commitment to the unit, the mission and the army. “The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can lecture and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example that they will follow. Serving compliance is not the way to go. My experience as a leader is when you have people who serve with commitment, individuals who have higher morale, who will go faster, longer and become better soldiers overall. This leader did not see it. He was for himself and that was made very clear. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The impacts of different leadership styles don't just affect one person, they can affect generations. leaders, both positively and negatively. As I shared my story of how I experienced bad leadership. We have