Leadership Theory and Skills: Case Study Lessons for Practice

Leadership can break or make an organisation. A number of theories, traits, skills and types of leadership exist in literature. Notably, personalities in Africa have leadership qualities that have been used to develop organisations. However, society many times fails to get inspiration, learn from available leadership or relate their styles, traits and skills to theory. Failure to relate practice and theory for learning towards change partly contributes to leadership failure. This paper examines an inspirational leader at Makerere University Business School in Uganda, relates her practice to theory and draws lessons for practice in organisations. The purpose of this study was to explore the theoretical underpinning, traits, styles and practices that enable successful leadership in a contemporary academic institution. The paper used a case study positive story and relevant literature review to present applications for leadership practice while proposing strategies supported by recent literature on how leadership improvement can be attained in an organisation. Future studies can study other case study persons in other organisations and locations. Results indicate that positive stories inform theory and leadership practice with the analysis of the story suggesting styles, traits and skills necessary for positive leadership.