During my time with startups I've come across a number of different management styles coming directly from the top of the business, either from a CEO or MD or main investor. So far though, none of them have particularly impressed or motivated me to do anything more than consider my options.
Here's a snippet of the types I've worked under:
1) Hands off
This method of managing things mainly involved providing requests from customers; E.g. This customer wants XYZ, and I promised them that we'd have to them by this date and they'd pay us this much. This method seems straight forwards on paper, but in reality (especially when the rest of the staff hadn't even met the customer) was extremely inefficient. The reason for this being that the request was really bare-bones, there just weren't clear enough requirements. For example, if I came to you and said 'hey, I need a website by next Friday, I'll pay you $1000', you could create anything you wanted. Because, there's no real detail there in the request. So you figure, just ask for more details. Right? But this manager has disappeared on a 3 week travel session to the States, China, and Europe off the radar to secure more of these poorly defined projects for you to amble through. By the time you see them again, the project is due and you deliver it, only for there to be complaints that it wasn't what they wanted. Not good.
2) Eyes on the Exit
This method involves bringing in some business from friends, family and good contacts in the industry. They start with a good idea, and they believe that if they do things reasonably well for a year or two they'll be able to sell the company on and make a cool million (or more). As such, they tend to look to scrimp and save at every opportunity. They hire good talent, but they don't pay it well. They talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, they're so uninterested in the business, there never feels like any progress is actually being made. Feels more like they're just waiting for that phone call that has a CEO of a billion dollar company on the other end with an over-inflated price for the business. Disappointing.
3) The Big Shot
This manager thinks they are God's gift to the world of business and they seem to think they're some kind of celebrity. It's sad really. They're good at securing contracts and closing deals and bringing in business and so forth, and they may well have even had success (or successes) with other businesses in the past. They seem to be living vicariously through those former glories like a retired baseball player or like the portrayal of Buzz Aldrin from Little Britain TV show. And with these former glories, and ego that it's given them, they think that staff will be climbing over themselves to work for them. Not the case. They treat staff like cogs in a machine that they've paid for, and therefore have the right to push those cogs in the machine to the limit, as if they're not real people, but tools. A very demotivating style, and one that ultimately leaves that manager sat in the room on their own surrounded by their toys but nobody to play with, telling stories to themselves of former glories in the mirror.
From my perspective, I believe staff motivation comes from the need to feel good about what you're doing; sharing common goals etc. If a manager can't share that passion for what the company is doing with their staff and feels that they need to hold the whip to get things done, I think it's destined to fail. Look at the fall of dictatorships in countries through history, it's telling.
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