[1.1.4] Defining Leadership

In this chapter we will explore the definitions of leadership

So what is leadership?Challenges in defining leadership Let’s have a look at some definitions The definition we use Breaking down the definition [1] Leadership is a process [2] Leadership stems from the individual (self)[3] Leadership is about influence [4] Leadership is about (groups of) people Leadership is about achieving something

So what is leadership?

If we want to better understand what leadership is, an obvious place to start is with a definition. No simple task, as many definitions of leadership circle around.

According to various academic sources, there are over 850 published definitions of leadership in academic literature.

Bernard Bass, wrote in his timeless book: “There are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept”.

Or alternatively one could argue; if we had as many good leaders elected as we have definitions on leadership, the world would be in a much better shape.

But jokes aside, the point made is that there are many different definitions of leadership.

This abundance of definitions reflects the evolving understanding of leadership throughout history, as scholars and practitioners have attempted to capture its essence in different contexts and time periods. But even today, there are conflicting definitions being applied both in the academic as well as the business world

And when there are many, sometimes competing, definitions of leadership we can conclude that there is no agreement or consensus of that leadership is. Which complicated the task ahead of us, helping you to become a better leader.

Before we explore some of those definitions, Take a minute to reflect what leadership means for you? What do you think makes leadership?

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Reflection: What is leadership for you? Write down whatever comes to mind.

Challenges in defining leadership

We have struggled to define leadership for years. Some of these leadership discussions are almost existential debates (e.g. are leaders born or made) and go back to times as far before the ancient Greeks (the time in which much of our current western thinking was established).

There are several reasons why it is so hard to define leadership, some of the most important include.

Leadership as a social construct: Leadership might mean something different in different cultures, in specific situations or contexts, and might even be different on a very personal level. So if we all have different definitions of leadership, it's easy to mix things up.

[1.1.4.1] Leadership as a social construct

The importance of language and vocabulary: Words like ‘lead’, ‘leading’ and ‘leadership’ are used interchangeably merging concepts such as ‘leadership as a behaviour’, ‘leadership as a position’, and ‘leadership as an achievement

[1.1.4.2] The importance of language and vocabulary

Various conceptual views on Leadership: Over time we have seen many different views on leadership, from leadership as a trait, to leadership as a skill, to leadership as a behaviour, and eventually leadership as a process,

[1.1.4.3] Various conceptual views on Leadership

Resemblance mistaken for synonymous: We tend to sometimes confuse certain concepts with leadership, such as ‘Manager’, ‘Hero’, ‘Guru’, ‘Expert’. Just because there are leaders who are also manager, a hero, a guru, an expert, or anything else; doesn’t mean that it equates to being a leader.

[1.1.4.4] Resemblance mistaken for synonymous

Each of these challenges deserve their proper attention and we will cover this in a separate (optional) chapters. This is only for those who like to ponder, if you are comfortable to accept our definition at face value please go ahead and skip these chapters.

Let’s have a look at some definitions

Here are some different examples of definitions that you can find across various (public or published) resources and what makes them stand out. We tried to pick some that are diverse (academic / non-academic) and recent (published in the last 10 years).

“Leadership is a set of mindsets and behaviours that aligns people in a collective direction, enables them to work together and accomplish shared goals, and helps them adjust to changing environments.”

unknown author - McKinsey (sept 2024)

The article argues that leadership is both a skill and behaviour that is exercised in different contexts. It writes leadership is an action rather than a position. The article defines four core behaviours that supposedly account for 89% of leadership effectiveness; being supportive, operating towards results, seeking different perspectives, and solving problems effectively.

The author argues leadership is centered around a vision to enable change. Leadership is less less focused on how to organize people to get work done and more on finding ways to align and influence them. This definition steers away from leadership being something that is business as usual, and requires a certain transformation to exist for leadership to be present, otherwise it is just management.

“Leadership is the creation of positive, non-incremental change, including the creation of a vision to guide that change—a strategy—the empowerment of people to make the vision happen despite obstacles, and the creation of a coalition of energy and momentum that can move that change forward”

Nancy Koehn - HBR Online (2019)

Now both are quite balanced and acceptable definitions.

The definition we use

the definition we like most is the definition offered by P.G. Northouse in Leadership: Theory & Practice. He defines leadership as:

“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”

P.G. Northouse (2022)

This book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in he academic views on Leadership, and can easily be called the bible of leadership.

Breaking down the definition

Let’s have a more detailed look at this definition, we can break it down in six key components that will be key throughout this course.

[1] Leadership is a process

Leadership is not just a trait, a skill, or a behaviour in itself. Instead leadership is a series of (inter)actions between a leader and followers in a certain context, directed to achieve a certain outcome. Defining it as a process intentionally makes leadership non-linear, meaning leadership goes both ways; leaders influence and are influenced by others.

The other important factor is that it strongly considers the context the leader find itself in, and needs to change their (inter)actions based on those contextual factors.

finally the concept of defining it as a process also removes the idea that leadership is a position, or that ‘being a leader’ is restricted to one person in a group. Instead leadership occurs between people and can happen by multiple people at the same time.

A visual representation of that process tries to show the complexity of Leadership as well as the many factors that need to be considered. This visual map is explored in more detail in the earlier mentioned optional chapter

[1.1.4.3] Various conceptual views on Leadership

Example #1: Puyol (ex-Football player at FC Barcalona)

He was a noteworthy player, but not for the reason one might think. It’s not his goals, not his talent, nor strength that makes him stand out.

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goals

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It’s his attitude. Every game he is motivating his team to press on, to not be disheartened by setbacks, to not respond to provocations, not to humiliate the opponent and not to celebrate before the game is won.

Examples #2: Imaginary case (inspired from a true story)

Imagine a large quarterly team meeting in which multiple project teams present their updates to the head of the department (in this room the person with the most senior leadership position). The meeting was quite tense as all projects were behind schedule and the senior leader not pleased with the progress. Each of the project leads presented their key objectives, the status, the roadblocks, and their priorities for their projects; while their project teams were sitting behind them listening to the interaction (and answering questions when needed). As project leads they each felt responsible and accountable for the project delays and therefor felt like they should face the potentially tough questions from the department head themselves head-on. One of the project leads took another approach, each quarter the project lead let one of their team members give the update; allowing the team member to get exposure and feel responsible for their work. Also this time. One of those team members then took the opportunity to bring up a fundamental flaw in the way the project teams had been set-up (by the head of department), which the team member believed was hampering the results of all the teams. This was a hard thing to do as the junior team member was addressing the head of the department directly and questioning some of the decisions made earlier. The head of department was very thankful for the open and honest feedback, and had not seen this to be a problem earlier, but was now convinced this was indeed a serious issue.

In this scenario, who showed leadership?

There are multiple leaders in the same room

The project leaders, taking responsibility for their team’s performance

The project lead giving its team members to opportunity to present

The project team member for bringing up a risk

The head of department based willing to accept feedback and changing the structure of the teams based on their input

[2] Leadership stems from the individual (self)

When we talk about leadership we often depart from the indvidual. We say “Someone is a leader”, or that person ”Showed leadership behaviours”. This signifies that even if leadership is a process that can happen between two individuals, we address it as if one is the leader and the other the follower (even if that follower is leading at the same time).

This underlines the importance of understanding the many selves (of both the followers and leaders). Their traits (core), their competences, and their actions (conduct). Why does the individual do what they do? For us this breaks down the self into three core areas (explore in more detail later)

Core - “Who one’ is”

Competence - “What one’ can do”

Conduct - “What one does”

Each of these three form a separate course in the program.

[3] Leadership is about influence

At the core leadership is about influence. Influence is about the interactions between people and the ability to shape and form those interactions. Without influence, there is no leadership.

[4] Leadership is about (groups of) people

Leadership is about other individuals (people)

Leadership is about people and doesn’t happen in isolation. Leading one’s self is not leadership, leadership describes the exchange and interactions with other people.

Leadership is about achieving something

Leadership is about achieving something

Leadership needs to be directed at the trying to achieve something. Certain outcomes that need to be accomplished, change to be enacted, or results to be met.

Leadership is about a common goal or vision

Leadership is about a goal, an end-result, a vision to achieve. And that goal or vision needs to be shared or common for a group of people.

Given that context, let’s make a couple of small language tweaks to this without changing the meaning to help us structure it in a more applicable definition for the purpose of development.

Leadership is the process whereby an individual influences people to achieve a common goal or vision

This will be the version we will use from here onwards and you will see appear throughout the course

You might wonder, what does ‘leadership is a process’ mean. This you will find out in the next chapter.

But let’s have a look at some statements that you might agree with, but also contradict itself

A Leader is someone who takes care it’s people, and the people will take care of the rest

A Leader is someone who focusses on the mission, and the results and makes sure

You can imagine there is a tension between these two statements. What if in order to obtain a certain result But let’s have a look at some statements that you might agree with, but also contradict itself

Leaders are high-performing individuals

Leaders can be low performing as long as they enable the team