Duke Ellington's Leadership Styles

The video we watched this week involved three musicians with different leadership styles but their outcome was the same, produce great music. The first musician was Duke Ellington and his band. Duke did not care if his band members hated each other, drank, or even went to jail. Duke’s main concern was that they were able to produce good music at the end of the day. The second musician in the video was Benny Goodman, and his style was to put the fear of God into his band members. For Benny, he did not care if he was loved or hated by his band members. If they did not live up to his expectations, then he was not afraid to put them in line. The final musician was Miles Davis, and his style was to inspire people. People looked up to him, not only his band members,

He would choose the type of leadership that would be needed for that situation at that time. He used his knowledge of the group and past experience to motivate, guide, and bring together the band when the time was needed. A vastly different approach was Benny Goodman’s style of leadership which was similar to Machiavelli: Narcissit Theory. Benny asserted his dominance amongst the band members, and did not care what they thought of him. For Benny, as long as the ends justified the means, it didn’t matter if his band members feared or hated him, so long as they made music that held up to his standards. The last musician that was introduced in the video was Miles Davis. Miles Davis not only inspired the musicians that he worked with, but also a whole generation of people. I believe that Miles’ leadership style was that of Burns’s Transformational Leadership Model. He had the charisma that produces strong emotions in people, and also motivated his band members. All three of the musicians used different leadership styles, but their outcomes were the same. They produced amazing