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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yasmine Moulin is owner of Yasmine Moulin Consulting, providing professional development, executive leadership programs, social media branding and marketing, and business management consulting services. Yasmine has been in the continuing professional education field for financial professionals and business leaders for many years. She has successfully planned and developed executive education and professional development programs for VPs, CEOs, CFOs, and senior leaders. Yasmine was an early adopter of social media & saw the power it has to build relationships, brand awareness & authentic engagement with clients & potential new clients. This lead her to being a social media consultant and strategist. Previously, Yasmine was in the English as a Second Language (ESL) industry including being an ESL teacher and English & French tutor. Yasmine holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University. Combining executive, management, business & leadership experience along with education & professional development, her focus & passion is in helping clients & their teams obtain their professional & personal goals. Yasmine currently lives in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.