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Leadership Styles in The Lion King
Central Michigan University
MSA 601
John Zappala











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Leadership is a quality that some people possess which allows them to rule, affect
and lead other people. That quality consists of a persons charisma, power of thought,
intellectual potential, and sense of responsibility. According to Kinicki and Fugate,
leadership is defined as, a social influence in which the leader seeks the voluntary
participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organizational goals," (p. 364). Todays
world requires leadership to compete and succeed. The rapidly changing conditions in an
organization demand adaptive leadership styles, and the success of an organization relies
on leaders evaluating and applying effective leadership styles.
Leadership and power are the main focuses in Disneys animated movie The Lion
King. The film describes the evolvement of a relationship in the animal kingdom after
Mufasa, the king of Pride Rock, and Sarabi, his wife, give birth to their son, Simba.
Simbas birth denies Scar, Mufasas younger brother, the kingship that he would have
inherited if Simba hadnt been born. Scar is extremely jealous of his older brother, is
obsessed with the idea of becoming king and obtaining power over Pride Rock. He
devises a plan with a goal to kill Mufasa and Simba so that he is next in line to take
charge. After Mufasa parishes, Scar manages to scare away the soon to be new leader,
Simba. Once Simba leaves Pride Rock, Scar assumes the role of king. Eventually, Simba
returns and takes his rightful place as king of Pride Rock. At one point in the movie,
Mufasa, Scar and Simba all lead the Pride Lands. Although they all get participation from
their subordinates to achieve goals, they seem to have different goals in mind.
We will use concepts from our text, Organizational Behaviorto analyze the
leadership styles of the characters in this movie and how they relate to the goals of an
organization.
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Mufasa- Transformational Leadership

The Lion King is a film about leadership and power. Each character in the film
displays unique traits, qualities and skills necessary for leadership. Mufasa is an example
of an effective leader. Mufasa demonstrates transformational leadership by focusing on
developing his son as the next king. He encourages him and disciplines him. He shows
him the way to lead and the way to help others. Mufasas goal is to help the pride so that
everyone lives in harmony. In the movie, he says, Everything you see exists together in
a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance and respect all the
creatures, from the crawling ant, to the leaping antelope. According to our textbook,
Organizational Behavior, transformational leaders seek to develop leadership in others,
exhibit self-sacrifice and serve as moral agents, focusing themselves and followers on
objectives that transcend the more immediate needs of the work group (p. 378).
Transformational leaders are attentive to the needs and motives of followers and
tries to help followers reach their fullest potential. Mufasa demonstrated a great amount
of charismatic characteristics through the lessons and guidance that he is providing for
Simba. According to Peter Northouse, there are five types of behaviors of the charismatic
theory of transformational leadership. Charismatic leaders are strong role models,
appear competent to followers, articulate ideological goals that have moral overtones,
communicate high expectations for followers while exhibiting confidence in followers
abilities, and arouse task-relevant motives in followers (p. 185).
Mufasa exemplifies the strong role model trait by providing Simba with the
beliefs and values that he wants Simba to adopt. Mufasa explains to Simba the
importance of the circle of life in the kingdom. Mufasa displays self-confidence with
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understanding of his duties as King, while Simba is inspired by his fathers knowledge of
being a king. Mufasa helped Simba develop the morals and values that he needed to reach
his fullest potential as king.

Scar- Transactional Leadership

Scar exemplified transactional leadership as he forms an unnatural alliance with
the hyenas. Transactional leadership is defined as having focuses on clarifying
employees role and task requirements and providing followers with positive and
negative rewards contingent on performance (p. 377). Scar gave his followers tasks to
complete and rewarded them or punished them based on how they did with their assigned
tasks. For example, Scar ordered the lionesses to find more food for everyone in the
kingdom. When they failed to do so, they were reprimanded and given nothing to eat.
The hyenas were given the task to get rid of Simba. Once they told Scar that the job was
done, they were rewarded with extra food. Scar had zero interest in the hyenas as
individuals, Scar was more interested in the power that he had as king. Scar's leadership
ultimately failed because the lion's knew that he had no legitimate, referent or expert
power, and the hyenas recognized that he had no reward power because he could not
provide food. By the end, he had also lost his coercive power when Simba regained his
position as king and the hyenas destroyed him.
Simba follows in his fathers footsteps by exhibiting transformational leadership.
He focuses on what is needed in the kingdom and works with the entire pride to make
strides towards the goals that need to be accomplished to restore the Pride Lands and
Pride Rock back to its former glory.
Conclusion
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Effective leaders are rare. They are created through the trials and tribulations of
managing or working with people in a variety of settings. The characters mentioned in
the Lion King demonstrated different leadership styles. Mufasa proved to be a successful
leader. He taught Simba how to be a leader. He didn't use force or manipulation instead
Mufasa provided discipline and unconditional love. In the process Mufasa learned to be
patient and understanding. His son was still young and he had a lot to learn. Simba had
no experience but in order to gain the traits of a king he needed support and affection.
Mufasa was willing to invest time and effort so that Simba could become a capable leader
he was personally involved with his son. In order for Scar to have been a successful
leader, he needed to adopt transformational leadership approaches and initially he was
able to present an inspirational vision to the hyenas, but then failed to present and achieve
a realistic strategy to achieve it. Demonstrating the qualities of leadership not only wins
friends and influences people; it sets the standard of behavior within an organization. A
true leader is one who leads people by example through using a synergy of charisma, tact
and skill in handling challenges, concern for the rights and privileges of others and care
for the positive impact on people and planet within the scope of their leadership and
beyond.






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References
Allers, R., & Minkoff, R. (Director). Hahn, D. (Producer). (1994). The Lion King [Online
video]. United States: Walt Disney Company. Retrieved March 26, 2014, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110357/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
Kinicki, A., & Fugate, M. (2012). Organizational Behavior: Key Concept, Skills & Best
Practices, Fifth edition. Mc Graw Hill Education, New York, New York.
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. (6 ed.). Thousand Oaks,
California: Sage Publishing.