Motivation, emotions, and leadership

by Richard C. Maddock

Leadership is motivation and motivation is leadership, say the authors of this study. The two elements are inseparable, but until now no one has actually conceptualized motivation in a useful way to demonstrate and analyze the connection between it and leadership. The key for leaders is dealing with the emotions that underlie and activate motivation. Maddock and Fulton provide a highly successful, proven, and replicable approach not only to motivate people, but also to train them to lead others. The authors develop an eleven-level structure of human motivation that defines and describes motivation in simple, graphic, all-inclusive language. They then show how leaders can use this motivational hierarchy to solve complex problems in the workplace. The result is a blueprint to help executives in all types of organizations manage more effectively, and as they do so, to motivate and truly lead the people who depend on them for guidance and direction.