Blanchard’s original research into the relationship between leadership and long-term organizational productivity, longevity, and vitality began with an in-depth analysis of hundreds of studies over a 25-year period to understand what connects these concepts. The analysis looked at the three outcomes and how they were impacted by two aspects of leadership: strategic leadership and operational leadership.
Blanchard research found that these two types of leadership impact organizational performance either directly or indirectly. The research showed that strategic leadership indirectly influences organizational vitality but directly influences operational leadership, which in turn directly influences employee work passion and customer devotion. In addition, Blanchard found that employee work passion and customer devotion influence one another-when employees are passionate about their job and their organization they tend to interact with the customer in a more positive manner, and vice
versa.