Just over 50 years ago (1967), Fred Fiedler, published his groundbreaking contingency theory of leadership that asserted effective leadership as a combination of the leader's characteristics and the type of situation faced by the leader and followers. His theory helped us think more about how who the leader is interacts with circumstances the leader faces.
One criticism of Fiedler's theory was the assumption that the leadership style of the individual is largely fixed/it did not take into account leader adaptability. Yet, it was the first leadership theory that considered leader characteristics and situational factors.
We appreciate the contributions of Dr. Fiedler. His career culminated at University of Washington (Seattle) where he held roles in both the business and psychology departments - connecting the disciplines with his contributions to Industrial-Organizational Psychology.
Dr. Fred Edward Fiedler (July 13, 1922 - June 8, 2017 / age 94)
