The effects of two distinct types of leadership - empowering and directive - have remained under-explored, with research providing inconclusive results about their effectiveness in teams. The purpose of the current study was to shed some light on this ambiguity by exploring whether directive or empowering leadership is superior in predicting team performance for new teams, faced with a learning task. Additionally, this study attempted to explain the mediating mechanisms that might translate the effect of leadership on team performance, and to explore how leader reputation may act as an additional influence mechanism in teams. Results from 60 five-person teams, engaged in a team-based, decision making simulation, provided support for the positive effect of empowering leadership on team performance and some evidence for the unique role of leader reputation in teams led by a directive leader. Theoretical and practical implications conclude this study.