Want your company to live long and prosper? Workers vote Star Trek captains Picard and Kirk as having the best boss qualities

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A recent survey by Strayer University and Ipsos asked 1,172 workers which bosses were likely to make change at a company stick

Four out of ten employees chose Two Star Trek icons - Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Capt. James T. Kirk

Judi Dench's M came a close third in the bosses voted most likely to instill positive change

Captain Kirk, 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy or the only woman who can control James Bond - which fictional boss would be best to steer a company through choppy, economic waters?

A recent survey by Strayer University and Ipsos asked 1,172 workers which bosses were likely to be inspiring leaders.



Four out of ten employees chose Two Star Trek icons - Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Capt. James T. Kirk - as the fictional bosses most likely to inspire positive change in the workplace.

Live long and prosper: Corporate employees chose Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek and Captain Kirk in a fun, fictional list of bosses most likely to make changes at a company last in the long run

Other names on the list included Ari Gold from Entourage, Michael Scott from the The Office and Mr Burns from The Simpsons.



The two female characters included came high on the list: M, played by Judi Dench in the most recent James Bond movies (17 per cent), and Meryl Streep's character Miranda Priestly (13 per cent) from The Devil Wears Prada.

Andrea Backman, the dean of the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University, said: 'Employees can recognize the qualities in leaders - even fictional ones - that translate into successful management strategies for making change work in organizations.'

Lukewarm responses were reserved for Alec Baldwin's 30 Rock character Jack Donaghy (7 per cent) Charlie from Charlie's Angels (10 per cent).



The Strayer/Ipsos survey asked a cross-section of corporate workers, male and female, from a range of age groups and locations with varying academic qualifications

Michael Scott, played by Steve Carrell on The Office unsurprisingly won only 5 per cent of workers' approval for his batty leadership style along with the demonic Mr Burns from The Simpsons and Ari Gold from Entourage.



Bottom of the heap of best bosses to inspire effective change among their workforce were Mr Spacely from The Jetsons and Bill Lumbergh, played by Gary Cole on Office Space.



Three per cent of those who took the survey voted for someone else and 29 per cent for 'none of the above'.



Of those surveyed, six out of ten people believed company changes came from the top down while 40 per cent thought anyone could inspire change.



Star bosses: Four out of ten employees chose Captain Jean-Luc Picard (right) and Capt. James T. Kirk (left) from Star Trek as the fictional leaders most likely to inspire positive change in the workplace

The survey of 1,172 people pooled data from 33 per cent of workers aged 18-34; 45 per cent from 35-54-year-olds and 21 per cent from employees 55 and over.



More men than women responded (54 per cent to 46 per cent) with 58 per cent of college graduates and 42 per cent without degrees.

