The research investigated leadership styles as factors influencing staff productivity in publishing firms in southwestern Nigeria. The survey method was adopted for the study. Questionnaire was employed for data collection, while one research question was answered and two hypotheses were treated. The population of the study was the ninety six (96) publishing firms registered by Nigerian Publishers Association in southwestern Nigeria. Random sampling technique was used to select thirty publishing firms with 180 managers who were totally enumerated. The data collected were analysed using frequency counts and percentages, while Pearson product moment correlation was used to test the hypotheses. Findings showed that the level of staff productivity in publishing firms in southwestern Nigeria was high, and the prevailing leadership style deployed by managers was transformational leadership. The study recommended that management of publishing firms should constantly review and improve on leadership styles.