Which is more important to your boss: to dominate people or to be liked by them?

Most leaders can be divided into these main two camps, says a management professor, and there is a time and a place for both styles.

“Dominant leaders mandate a vision,” said Prof. Jon K. Maner of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Leaders whose main motivation is to be liked and admired — he calls these prestige leaders — “facilitate their group’s vision.”

Professor Maner is interested in how evolutionary biology shapes human behavior and creates social hierarchies. The dominant style of leadership evolved much earlier than the prestige style and is not restricted to humans, he noted.

“You see dominance across many species, including many other primates,” he said. “In those species, the biggest and the strongest usually wins and ends up on top of the hierarchy.” That isn’t always the case with people. Sometimes being liked and admired helps propel a person to the top.