You're the boss: Should you call all the shots? Pick a course of action, then "sell" your idea to employees? Gather input from subordinates but make final decisions yourself? Let your group solve problems? Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages.

How to Choose a Leadership Pattern offers strategies for selecting the best approach—depending on considerations such as your values, your subordinates' abilities, and the situation (including the degree of time pressure you're under).

Since 1922, Harvard Business Review has been a leading source of breakthrough management ideas—many of which still speak to and influence us today.

The Harvard Business Review Classics series now offers readers the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world—and will have a direct impact on you today and for years to come.