What is Leadership?

Leadership is an attempt at influencing the activities of followers through the communication process and toward the attainment of some goal or goals. Leadership is an influence process that enable managers to get their people to do willingly what must be done, do well what ought to be done.(Cribbin, J.J. ‘Leadership: strategies for organizational effectiveness’)

 Leadership is defined as the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement.(Rauch & Behling.)

Leadership is discovering the company's destiny and having the courage to follow it. ( JoeJaworski - Organizational Learning Center at MIT.).

 Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals. ( Tannenbaum,Weschler & Massarik) 28

Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.

Leadership is that process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment.

Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. A leader is one who successfully marshals his human collaborators to achieve particular ends (Prentice, W.C.H. ‘Understanding Leadership’ Harvard Business Review September/October 1961 vol. 39 no. 5 p.143.). Leadership is the art of influencing others to their maximum performance 29

Leadership is the initiation and maintenance of structure in expectation and interaction. (Stogdill 1974, p.411) Leadership may be considered as the process (act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement. (Stogdill, 1950, p.3)

Leadership is a social process in which one individual influences the behaviour of others without the use of threat or violence.( Buchannan and Huczynski ).

Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished.Richards and Engle).

Leadership is the ability to step outside the culture to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive.( Schein) .

 Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations(. Drucker, P. F).

Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation.( Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. ‘Management of Organizational Behavior’. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 1988 p. 86)

Leadership is the process of making sense of what people are doing together so that people will understand and be committed.( Drath & Palus) (1994) Leadership: The capacity and will to rally people to a common purpose together with the character that inspires confidence and trust (Field Marshal Montgomery) 30

Leadership is a purposeful relationship, which occurs episodically among participants, who use their individual skills in influence, to advocate transforming change.( Michael S. Kearns, 2005)

 Leadership is not the private reserve of a few charismatic men and women. It is a process ordinary people use when they are bringing forth the best from themselves and others. Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow (Kouzes & Posner, 2002)

 Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a
common goal (Northouse, 2004)

 Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through changes. (Lussier & Achua, 2004)

 Leadership is the behavior of an individual… directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal. (Hemphill & Coons, 1957)

Leadership is the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization (D.Katz & Kahn, 1978)

 Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement (Rauch & Behling, 1984)

 Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose (Jacobs & Jacques, 1990)

Leadership is the ability to step outside the culture to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive (E.H. Schein, 1992) 31

Leadership is the process of making sense of what people are doing together so that people will understand and be committed (Drath & Palus, 1994)

Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished (Richards & Engle, 1986)

 Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization.(House et al., 1999)

 Leadership is the ability of developing and communicating a vision to a group of people that will make that vision true (Kenneth Valenzuela, 2007)

Leadership is ineffable and independent of ambition. There are those who seem to radiate a field of influence to which others will respond in the same way that metal filings line up in a magnetic field.

A leader is invariably self-motivated - not to achieve any particular ambition, either motivated to purse personal excellence. Invariably, human beings respond to and follow individuals who are themselves motivated. The best leaders are motivated by a need to excel; that pursuit is a passion and a source of deep personal satisfaction. (Iain Dale)

Leadership is defined as a process of influencing others to accomplish the mission, inspiring their commitment, and improving the organisation. (Tom Peters)

 Leadership is a communication process of influencing and directing people to commit to and achieve a shared goal voluntarily, in a given situation (Aykut, Apinya, Billy, Crystal, Gilbert, and Ritina 2008).

 Leadership is a communication process of maximizing people potential and influencing people to achieve a shared goal, in a given situation (Lo, 2008).

 Leadership is a capacity in the human community to shape its future.( Peter Senge) 32 Leadership is the behavior of an individual. Directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal (Hemphill & Coons, 1957)

 Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement (Rauch & Behling, 1984)

 Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose. (Jacobs & Jaques, 1990)

 Leadership may be broadly defined as the relation between an individual and a group built around some common interest and behaving in a manner directed or determined by him. (Schmidt, 1933) 

Leadership is "the behavior of an individual directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal. (Hemphill & Coons, 1957)

Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. A leader is one who successfully marshals his human collaborators to achieve particular ends. (Prentice, W.C.H. 1961)

Leadership is that process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment. (Jaques E. & Clement, 1994) A close look at the various definitions of leadership reveals that the main context is the personality. There seems to be certain independence with regard to the contemporary issues.