Leading Starts In The Mind: A Humanistic View Of Leadership

This book offers a refreshing view of leadership as a psycho-social phenomenon. Attention is drawn to the conceptual muddle which underlies much of managerial practices, particularly in the selection and development of future leaders. Also demonstrated is the conceptual muddle through semantic analysis of the vocabulary used in defining leadership in different languages. The concept of leadership from four different perspectives is examined in detail: leadership as a universal and natural phenomenon; membership and social roles; leadership as a collective process; conceptual models. In addition to the theoretical models, the author discusses patterns of influence and use and abuse of power. The author's conceptualization of leadership challenges much of our conventional wisdom and traditional notions. He questions, for example, the universality of intelligence, dominance, aggressiveness and extraversion as predictors of leadership potential.