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Leadership involves a set of learnable experiences. Exceptional leaders are exceptional learners. This essay reviews some of the current literature related to effective leadership in education with a special focus on Marzano’s research on leadership “that works” (2005). Most definitions of leadership involve four elements including process – a transaction between leader and followers, context – usually a group with a common purpose, influence – affect on group, and goal attainment – direction of influence (Northouse, 2004). Dr. Bernard Bass has published over 400 articles and written and edited nine books, all concentrating on leadership. Bass has developed a set of theories of how people become leaders. His trait theory says that some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. The great events theory, on the other hand, says that a crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion and brings our extraordinary leadership qualities. Finally, the transformational leadership theory says that people can choose to become leaders and learn leadership skills (Bass & Bass, 2008). There are many different leadership styles that have been identified by a multitude of researchers. This essay will define and explain three leadership styles. Authoritarian leadership is used when the leader tells her employees what she wants done and how she wants it done, without getting the advice of her team. Some of the appropriate conditions to utilize this style are when you have all the information is available to solve the problem, time is limited, or employees are well motivated. A Participative style involves the leader including one or more employees in on the decision making process (determining what to ... ... middle of paper ... ...agement style should be matched to the order of magnitude of the change. Following Marzano’s suggestions for leadership that works has the potential to transform schools. These simple and straightforward strategies provide explicit design for effective leadership in today’s schools. Works Cited Bass, B. M., & Bass, R. (2008). The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, & Managerial Applications (4th ed.). New York, New York: The Free Press. Marzano, R.J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B.A. (2005). School Leadership that Works: From Research to Results. Alexandria, VA. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Northouse, P. G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Pink, D. H. (2006). A whole new mind: why right-brainers will rule the future (2nd ed.). London, England: Penguin Books Ltd.