Dolly

Dolly is one of a small group of toys belonging to a little girl named Bonnie who attends Sunnyside Daycare. The other toys in Dolly’s group are Buttercup the White Unicorn, Mr Pricklepants the Hedgehog and Trixie the Dinosaur.

Dolly is a cute floppy felt doll who has big round eyes, purple hair and wears an orange dress with mismatched buttons. Dolly has a sarcastic sense of humour and tends to be a bit brainy and as such could be seen by others in the group to have charisma.

Dolly’s style of leadership relies on the power and influence she has on the other group members.  As a leader Dolly exercises referent power, which is part of the French and Raven (1959)  model.  She is able to do this as the other members of her group perceive her to have charisma and intelligence which influences her personality and power over them. Dolly is also described as being brainy and as such would have a greater awareness of how to use her interpersonal skills such as those described in the Bradford Model of leadership developed by Gerry Randell (2011). The Bradford Model, also known as the Influence Model focuses on how a leader structures their interactions with followers and others. The core skills of leadership according to this model comprise of the ability to use active listing skills and appropriate body language.

An example of a famous charismatic leader is Barack Obama he has been described as having the ability to inspire and motivate. Call it charisma, an aura, a gift, whatever Obama has, it has given him the ability to galvanize a nation in ways that have changed the world.  This links to Downey (2003) Push/PullTheory and in particular Barack Obama would be described as having the Pull style of influence as he shows that he understands how people feel and is able to describe an exciting vision whilst at the same time demonstrate that he has listened to what the people have said.  The following UTube clip demonstrates how charismatically he has been portrayed to the world.

Barak Obama