WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” (Civil Rights Movement saying).

Leadership is “the reciprocal process of mobilizing by persons with certain motives and values, various economic, political and other resources in a context of competition and conflict, in order to realize goals independently or mutually held by both leaders and followers” (James MacGregor Burns, Leadership. New York: Harper & Row, 1978, p. 425).

“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes” (Joseph C. Rost, Leadership for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Praeger, 1991).

“Leadership is a process by which members of a group are empowered to work together synergistically toward a common goal or vision that will create change, transform institutions, and thus improve the quality of life” (Helen S. Astin and Carole Leland, Women of Influence, Women of Vision: A Cross-Generational Study of Leaders and Social Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1991, p. 8).

“Leadership is mobilizing people to tackle tough problems” (Ronald Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1994, p. 15).

“It appears that when leaders fully commit themselves to the cause and demand the same from supporters, their authenticity magnetizes supporters and ignites their dedication” (Jean Lipman-Blumen, The Connective Edge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1996, p. 245).

“Leadership is a relational and ethical process of people together attempting to accomplish positive change” (Susan Komives, Nance Lucas & Tim MacMahon, Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1998/2006, p. ix).

“Those who would practice effective leadership must practice a high degree of imagination, pragmatism, and trust, without falling prey to naiveté” (Sharon Daloz Parks, Leadership Can Be Taught. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2005, p. 3).

“We now see leadership as an influence process, both visible and invisible, in a society inherited, constructed, and perceived as the interaction of persons in human (and inhuman) conditions of inequality—an interaction measured by the ethical and moral values and by the degree of realization of intended, comprehensive, and durable change” (James MacGregor Burns as quoted in George R. Goethals and Georgia L.J. Sorenson, eds. The Quest for a General Theory of Leadership. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2006, p. 239).

“An effective leader needs creative skills and dispositions to come up with ideas, academic skills, and dispositions to decide whether they are good ideas, practical skills, and dispositions to make the ideas work and convince others of the value of the ideas, and wisdom-based skills and dispositions to ensure that the ideas are in the service of the common good rather than just the good of the leader or perhaps some clique of family members or followers” (Robert J. Sternberg, “A Systems Model of Leadership.” American Psychologist, 62.1, 2007, p. 40).

“A leader is not necessarily a person who holds some formal position of leadership or who is perceived as a leader by others. Rather, a leader is one who is able to effect positive change for the betterment of others, the community, and society. All people, in other words, are potential leaders. Moreover, the process of leadership cannot be described simply in terms of the behavior of an individual; rather leadership involves collaborative relationships that lead to collective action grounded in the shared values of people who work together to effect positive change” (Higher Education Research Institute; University of California, Los Angeles).

“A leader’s greatest obligation is to make possible an environment where people can aspire to change the world” (Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard).

What’s Your Definition of Leadership?