A Transformational Leadership Style That Won Leeza Gibbons The Celebrity Apprentice Season 7

by Yasmine Moulin

Although The Celebrity Apprentice has been off the air for a bit, and all the ‘leadership’ controversy and discussion around the host, Donald Trump these days, we can still reflect back on the different leadership styles that were portrayed on Season 7 of The Celebrity Apprentice and  see what qualities and practices makes a successful leader.

Leeza Gibbons, an American television presenter, former correspondent and co-host of ‘Entertainment Tonight’, and currently has her own radio talk show, ‘Hollywood Confidential’, part of the United Stations radio syndication company, was the last Celebrity Apprentice Season 7 winner. She is only the second female winner, the first being Joan Rivers. What leadership style did she have to win over such powerful and determined competitors?

Leeza has a Transformational Leadership style. She showed great enthusiasm, energy, and passion. Leeza garnered trust, respect, and admiration from her competitors and she inspired them to share in her vision and goals for her charity, Leeza’s Care Connection. By having an 8/3 win/loss record, Leeza showed that she successfully “inspire[ed] followers to both achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity.” (Bass & Riggio, 2006, p. 3).

Leeza’s consistent respect of others and empowering her team garnered her respect, admiration and trust from her competitors and Mr. Trump himself. She created and fostered an atmosphere of commitment and loyalty, and a shared vision by being a great communicator as well as a great listener. As a transformational leader, Leeza was determined, persistent, always optimistic, and focused on helping every member of each of her teams on becoming successful. This leadership style culminated in her raising a total of $714,000 for her charity, and winning The Celebrity Apprentice, Season 7.

I hear that former California Governor and international movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger will take over as the ‘CEO’ and host of the next The Celebrity Apprentice. I for one, can hardly wait for Arnold to “be back”! Any guesses on his leadership style?

References

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and Performance. New York: Free Press.

Bass, B. M. (1998). Transformational Leadership. (2nd ed). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.