Leadership has been described from various perspectives and defined by different concepts. Based on the descriptions of leadership provided in this week’s lecture and readings, present a personal definition of leadership and explain why your definition is appropriate and relevant to the practice of leadership today. Provide an example of a current leader who embodies this definition. Explain how this individual is a relevant example of your personal definition of leadership. 

Week One Lecture  

When we think of leaders in today’s world, we often think first of the big names in the news: politicians, top-earning CEO’s, humanitarians, or sports figures. Yet there are leaders working in all organizations, large and small. Leadership is present in the world of business and in sports, but it also around us every day, in all facets of our lives: our families, schools, communities, churches, social clubs, and volunteer organizations. There are qualities that make any leader effective whether one is leading a school, a basketball team, a business, or a family.  Leadership Defined   Before we can examine what makes an effective leader, we need to know what leadership means. Leadership has been a topic of interest to historians and philosophers since ancient times, but scientific studies began only in the twentieth century. Scholars and other writers have offered countless definitions of the term leadership. Burns (1978) offers that leadership is “one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth” (p. 2). Bennis and Nanus (1985) emphasize this sentiment when they state that “multiple interpretations of leadership exist, each providing a sliver of insight but each remaining an incomplete and wholly inadequate explanation” (p. 4). An often-cited study, one of the most comprehensive reviews of the leadership literature, was conducted by Stogdill (1974), who found that “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept” (p. 7). Definitions of leadership include the following: 

• “Leadership can be conceptualized as an interaction between a person and the members of a group: One person, the leader, influences, while the other person responds” (Gordon, 1955, p. 10). 

• Leadership is “the initiation and maintenance of structure in expectation and interaction” (Stogdill, 1974, p. 15). • “Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing” (Bennis & Nanus, 1985, p. 21). 

• Leadership “is the ability to step outside the culture … to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive” (Schein, 1992, p.2). 

• Leadership is “the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations” (Kouzes & Posner, 1995, p. 30). 

• “The essence of leadership is not giving things or even providing visions. It is offering oneself and one’s spirit” (Bolman & Deal, 1995, p. 102). 

Leadership can also be defined as an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real-life changes in outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. As a result, leadership involves people in a relationship, influence, change, a shared purpose, and it requires taking responsibility to make things happen. Most of us are aware of famous leaders, but most leadership that changes the world starts small and may begin with personal frustrations about events that prompt people to initiate change and inspire others to follow them. Your leadership may be expressed in the classroom, your neighborhood, community, or volunteer organizations. Concepts of leadership, and our attempts to define it, will continue to evolve over time.  

 Article 

McWilliams, Margaret A., .(2007, Jul-Aug). A leadership competency model: Guiding the NAON process . Orthopaedic Nursing . 26:4, 211-213. Retrieved from the EbscoHost database. 

SHRM . (2008). Leadership competencies (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/research/articles/articles/pages/leadershipcompetencies.aspx 

Recommended Resources 

Article 

Schippmann, J. S., Ash, R. A., Battista, M., Carr, L., Eyde, L. D., Hesketh, B., Kehow, J., Pearlman, K., Prien, E. P. & Sanchez, J. I. (2000). The practice of competency modeling. Personnel Psychology, 53(3), 703−740. Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database. 

Multimedia 

Goldberg, J. (Producer). (1997). A report from the Harvard Business School: Leadership (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.[Video file].  Retrieved from the Films On Demand database. 

INTELECOM (Producer). Elements of leadership (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. [Video file].  Retrieved from http://searchcenter.intelecomonline.net:80/playClipDirect.aspx?id=4870EEC7664070BBC7A04533604A03CF3B24D9F4563D27DA2718088A1E8AF2C6C2404B2E58EC51E8533A1C8A81C8C254 Websites 

Changing minds. (2013). Leadership theories (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/leadership_theories.htm