| Course | BMB 670 Music Business Leadership and Ethics |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | graduate assignment comparing leadership approaches in a music business |
| Length | About 1,010 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MBA in Music Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BMB 670 Module 2
Leadership Approaches Applied to an Independent Promoter
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
BMB 670: Music Business Leadership and Ethics
Module Two Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.
Leadership Approaches Applied to an Independent Promoter
Introduction
The concert promoter has been led for twenty-one years by its founder, whose energy and vision built it from a single club into a company that books about 300 shows a year and runs a three-day festival. She plans to step back in two years. Its operations director, who has run festival production since 2015, leads a crew of about sixty paid staff and 900 volunteers, most of whom return each year. This paper explains three leadership approaches, transformational, servant and authentic, summarizes what research finds about each, applies them to the company's leaders and people and recommends an approach for the next chief executive.
Transformational Leadership
Bass and Riggio (2006) picture the transformational leader as someone who paints a compelling picture of the future, sets the example personally, pushes people to question their assumptions and looks after each person's growth. Research has linked this approach to higher commitment and performance across many settings. The founder is a clear example of the first two elements. Her vision of a festival that treats artists and fans better than the large corporate events drew staff and volunteers to a risky project in 2015, and her example on show days, working the gate or carrying gear, set the standard.
She is weaker on the last two elements. She challenges people to work hard, but less often to think differently, and her attention to individual development is limited by the number of decisions she keeps for herself. Transformational leadership also carries a known risk: when followers identify strongly with a leader's vision, they may struggle when that leader leaves. The company's staff describe the festival as hers, which is a concern for the handover.
Servant Leadership
Van Dierendonck (2011) synthesized research on servant leadership and described its core as empowering and developing people, humility, authenticity, accepting others, providing direction and stewardship. Studies he reviewed link it to trust, commitment and helping behavior among followers. The operations director leads this way. He schedules volunteers around their own lives, pays for crew meals himself when budgets are tight, trains volunteers to become shift leads and gives credit publicly. About 70 percent of volunteers return each year, far above the norm for festivals of this size, and exit surveys mention him by name.
Servant leadership has limits on show day. When a storm is twenty minutes away and the main stage must be cleared, followers need clear commands rather than consultation. The operations director handles this by switching to directive leadership in emergencies, which his crew accepts because of the trust he has built the rest of the year.
Authentic Leadership
Avolio and Gardner (2005) define authentic leaders by self-awareness, a clear internal moral standard, balanced processing of information and openness with followers. They argue that authenticity is the root of other positive forms of leadership. The founder's decision to pay artists' guarantees during the 2020 shutdown is an example of action matching stated values, and it is why agents trust the company. Authentic leadership's limitation is that it describes a quality rather than a set of methods; a leader can be authentic and still make poor decisions or keep too much control.
Two Other Approaches
Two other approaches deserve a brief look because parts of the company already rely on them. Situational leadership holds that a leader should adjust between directing, coaching, supporting and delegating according to each follower's competence and commitment. It describes well what the operations director does with volunteers, coaching first-year volunteers closely and delegating to returning shift leads. Its weakness is that it says little about values, which matter greatly in a business where reputation with artists is the main asset.
Transactional leadership, built on clear expectations, rewards and corrections, governs much of the company's daily work: box office staff have targets, security contractors have performance terms and bartenders are paid partly through tips. It works for routine tasks and for contractors who have no long-term tie to the company. It does not build the loyalty that keeps volunteers returning or agents calling, so it can support but not replace the other approaches. The next chief executive will need transactional discipline in contracts and budgets while leading people through the other three approaches.
Applying the Approaches
The company's needs are shifting. It no longer needs a founder's vision to start something new; it needs to keep its reputation with artists and fans, develop staff who can take decisions, and keep its volunteer crew. Each approach contributes. Authentic leadership protects the reputation, because artists and agents trust consistency. Servant leadership develops staff and keeps volunteers, as the operations director has shown. Transformational leadership remains useful for setting direction, but the next chief executive will need less of the founder's personal intensity and more of her consistency.
Approaches compared for the company's situation
| Approach | Main strength here | Main limit here |
|---|---|---|
| Transformational | Sets direction, energizes staff | Can concentrate loyalty in one person |
| Servant | Develops staff and keeps volunteers | Slow in emergencies unless balanced |
| Authentic | Sustains trust with artists and agents | Does not by itself say how to lead |
Recommendation
The next chief executive should combine authentic consistency with servant leadership toward staff and crew, keeping a transformational element in setting the company's direction. In practice, that means delegating booking and pricing decisions to trained staff with clear limits, keeping commitments to artists even when they cost money, developing two or three people as future leaders and adopting the operations director's model of switching to clear command only in emergencies. Milestone One will analyze how the handover itself should be led.
Conclusion
Each approach explains part of the company's success: the founder's transformational vision built it, the operations director's servant leadership keeps its crew and authenticity keeps the trust of artists. For the next stage, the company needs less dependence on one inspiring person and more leaders who serve and develop others while acting consistently on the values the founder established. That shift will not happen by itself; it has to be planned, which is the subject of the next milestone.
References
Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(3), 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001
Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1228-1261. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380462
What the BMB 670 Module 2 instructions ask for
The Module Two assignment in BMB 670 asks you to examine leadership approaches and apply them to music industry scenarios. You typically explain two or more approaches, such as transformational, servant, authentic, situational or transactional leadership, summarize research on their effects, apply them to a specific organization or leader and evaluate which fits best. Strong submissions use the scenario's details, such as who the followers are and what pressures they face, to decide what each approach would look like in practice. Graders reward balanced evaluation that names limits as well as strengths and a recommendation tied to the organization's situation rather than to a general preference. A short comparison table helps the reader see the trade-offs at once.
How this BMB 670 Module 2 leadership approaches assignment example is built
The paper explains transformational leadership as inspiring followers to pursue a shared vision, servant leadership as putting followers' growth and needs first, and authentic leadership as acting consistently from clear values. It summarizes research linking each to outcomes such as commitment and trust. It then applies them: the founder's transformational vision built the festival but concentrated decisions in her hands; the operations director's servant habits explain why 900 volunteers return each year; and authenticity explains why artists trust the company. It notes the limits of each, such as servant leadership's slower decisions on show day, and recommends that the next chief executive combine authentic consistency with servant leadership toward the crew.
Where the BMB 670 Module 2 rubric puts the points
The rubric for the approaches paper commonly looks at the accuracy of each approach's explanation, use of research, application to the scenario, balanced evaluation and the quality of the recommendation, along with writing. Strong papers describe each approach in terms of behavior a reader could observe, use studies rather than textbook summaries alone, and show how each would play out with the scenario's specific people and pressures. They also discuss when an approach fails. Papers lose credit for generic descriptions, for applying every approach in the same way, for recommendations that ignore the organization's situation and for treating one approach as best in every case.
BMB 670 Module 2 help: the mistakes that cost points
Students often describe leadership approaches accurately but apply them to a scenario in a single sentence. Spend most of your words on application: who would the leader be leading, what would the approach require them to do differently on a Tuesday and on show day, and what would followers notice? Use research to explain likely effects, but keep it focused. Evaluate limits honestly; most approaches have a setting where they work poorly. Make the recommendation specific to the organization, and consider combining approaches when different groups, such as staff and artists, need different things. Saying what the leader should stop doing is often as useful as saying what to start.
Get BMB 670 Module 2 written to your instructions
Send the BMB 670 Module 2 assignment and your scenario. You get each approach explained with research, applied to the people and pressures in your case, its limits named and a reasoned recommendation. Usually two days; a first paper is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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BMB 670 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free BMB 670 Module 2 Leadership Approaches sample?
This page offers a complete BMB 670 Module 2 paper comparing three leadership approaches at a Columbus concert promoter.
What is transformational leadership?
An approach in which leaders inspire followers with a shared vision, set high expectations, challenge them intellectually and attend to their development, often raising commitment and performance.
What is servant leadership?
An approach in which leaders put the needs and growth of followers first, sharing power and helping others perform, which research links to commitment and helping behavior.
How do transformational and servant leadership differ?
Transformational leaders focus followers on the organization's goals and vision, while servant leaders focus first on followers' needs and growth, trusting that the organization benefits as a result.
Which leadership approach works best in the music business?
It depends on the setting; creative and live event businesses often need a mix of inspiring vision, steady authenticity and support for the crews and staff who do the work.