essay on definition of leadership

What is leadership?

All leaders, to a certain degree, do the same thing. Whether you’re talking about an executive, manager, sports coach, or schoolteacher, leadership is about guiding and impacting outcomes, enabling groups of people to work together to accomplish what they couldn’t do working individually. In this sense, leadership is something you do, not something you are. Some people in formal leadership positions are poor leaders, and many people exercising leadership have no formal authority. It is their actions, not their words, that inspire trust and energy.

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Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, Scott Keller is a senior partner in the Southern California office, and Vik Malhotra and Ramesh Srinivasan are senior partners in the New York office.

What’s more, leadership is not something people are born with—it is a skill you can learn. At the core are mindsets, which are expressed through observable behaviors , which then lead to measurable outcomes. Is a leader communicating effectively or engaging others by being a good listener? Focusing on behaviors lets us be more objective when assessing leadership effectiveness. The key to unlocking shifts in behavior is focusing on mindsets, becoming more conscious about our thoughts and beliefs, and showing up with integrity as our full authentic selves.

There are many contexts and ways in which leadership is exercised. But, according to McKinsey analysis of academic literature as well as a survey of nearly 200,000 people in 81 organizations all over the world, there are four types of behavior that account for 89 percent of leadership effectiveness :

• being supportive
• operating with a strong results orientation
• seeking different perspectives
• solving problems effectively

Effective leaders know that what works in one situation will not necessarily work every time. Leadership strategies must reflect each organization’s context and stage of evolution. One important lens is organizational health, a holistic set of factors that enable organizations to grow and succeed over time. A situational approach  enables leaders to focus on the behaviors that are most relevant as an organization becomes healthier.

Senior leaders must develop a broad range of skills to guide organizations. Ten timeless topics are important for leading nearly any organization, from attracting and retaining talent  to making culture a competitive advantage. A 2017 McKinsey book, Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths (Bloomsbury, 2017), goes deep on each aspect.

How is leadership evolving?

In the past, leadership was called “management,” with an emphasis on providing technical expertise and direction. The context was the traditional industrial economy command-and-control organization, where leaders focused exclusively on maximizing value for shareholders. In these organizations, leaders had three roles: planners (who develop strategy, then translate that strategy into concrete steps), directors (who assign responsibilities), or controllers (who ensure people do what they’ve been assigned and plans are adhered to).

What are the limits of traditional management styles?

Traditional management was revolutionary in its day and enormously effective in building large-scale global enterprises that have materially improved lives over the past 200 years. However, with the advent of the 21st century, this approach is reaching its limits.

For one thing, this approach doesn’t guarantee happy or loyal managers or workers. Indeed, a large portion of American workers—56 percent— claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic , while 75 percent say dealing with their manager is the most stressful part of their workday.

For 21st-century organizations operating in today’s complex business environment, a fundamentally new and more effective approach to leadership is emerging. Leaders today are beginning to focus on building agile, human-centered, and digitally enabled organizations able to thrive in today’s unprecedented environment and meet the needs of a broader range of stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, in addition to investors).

What is the emerging new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is sometimes described as “ servant leadership .” While there has been some criticism of the nomenclature, the idea itself is simple: rather than being a manager directing and controlling people, a more effective approach is for leaders to be in service of the people they lead. The focus is on how leaders can make the lives of their team members easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Research suggests this mentality can enhance both team performance and satisfaction.

In this new approach, leaders practice empathy, compassion, vulnerability, gratitude, self-awareness, and self-care. They provide appreciation and support, creating psychological safety so their employees are able to collaborate, innovate, and raise issues as appropriate. This includes celebrating achieving the small steps on the way to reaching big goals and enhancing people’s well-being through better human connections. These conditions have been shown to allow for a team’s best performance.

More broadly, developing this new approach to leadership can be expressed as making five key shifts that include, build on, and extend beyond traditional approaches:

• beyond executive to visionary, shaping a clear purpose that resonates with and generates holistic impact for all stakeholders
• beyond planner to architect, reimagining industries and innovating business systems that are able to create new levels of value
• beyond director to catalyst, engaging people to collaborate in open, empowered networks
• beyond controller to coach, enabling the organization to constantly evolve through rapid learning, and enabling colleagues to build new mindsets, knowledge, and skills
• beyond boss to human, showing up as one’s whole, authentic self

Together, these shifts can help a leader expand their repertoire and create a new level of value for an organization’s stakeholders. The last shift is the most important, as it is based on developing a new level of consciousness and awareness of our inner state. Leaders who look inward  and take a journey of genuine self-discovery make profound shifts in themselves and their lives; this means they are better able to benefit their organization. That involves developing “profile awareness” (a combination of a person’s habits of thought, emotions, hopes, and behavior in different circumstances) and “state awareness” (the recognition of what’s driving a person to take action). Combining individual, inward-looking work with outward-facing actions can help create lasting change.

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Leaders must learn to make these five shifts at three levels : transforming and evolving personal mindsets and behaviors; transforming teams to work in new ways; and transforming the broader organization by building new levels of agility, human-centeredness, and value creation into the entire enterprise’s design and culture.

An example from the COVID-19 era offers a useful illustration of this new approach to leadership. In pursuit of a vaccine breakthrough, at the start of the pandemic Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel increased the frequency of executive meetings  from once a month to twice a week. The company implemented a decentralized model enabling teams to work independently and deliver on the bold goal of providing 100 million doses of vaccines in 12 months. “The pace was unprecedented,” Bancel said.

What is the impact of this new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is far more effective. While the dynamics are complex, countless studies show empirical links among effective leadership, employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability.

How can leaders empower employees?

Empowering employees , surprisingly enough, might mean taking a more hands-on leadership approach. Organizations whose leaders successfully empower others through coaching are nearly four times more likely to make swift, good decisions and outperform other companies . But this type of coaching isn’t always natural for those with a more controlling or autocratic style.

Here are five tips to get started  if you’re a leader looking to empower others:

• Provide clear rules, for example, by providing guardrails for what success looks like and communicating who makes which decisions. Clarity and boundary structures like role remits and responsibilities help to contain any anxiety associated with work and help teams stay focused on their primary tasks.
• Establish clear roles, say, by assigning one person the authority to make certain decisions.
• Avoid being a complicit manager—for instance, if you’ve delegated a decision to a team, don’t step in and solve the problem for them.
• Address culture and skills, for instance, by helping employees learn how to have difficult conversations.
• Begin soliciting personal feedback from others, at all levels of your organization, on how you are experienced as a leader.

How can leaders communicate effectively?

Good, clear communication is a leadership hallmark. Fundamental tools of effective communication  include:

• defining and pointing to long-term goals
• listening to and understanding stakeholders
• creating openings for dialogue
• communicating proactively

And in times of uncertainty, these things are important for crisis communicators :

• give people what they need, when they need it
• communicate clearly, simply, and frequently
• choose candor over charisma
• revitalize a spirit of resilience
• distill meaning from chaos
• support people, teams, and organizations to build the capability for self-sufficiency

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice .

Is leadership different in a hybrid workplace?

A leader’s role may look slightly different in remote or hybrid workplace settings . Rather than walking around a physical site, these leaders might instead model what hybrid looks like, or orchestrate work based on tasks, interactions, or purpose. Being communicative and radiating positivity  can go a long way. Leaders need to find other ways to be present and accessible, for example, via virtual drop-in sessions, regular company podcasts, or virtual townhalls. Leaders in these settings may also need to find new ways to get authentic feedback. These tactics can include pulse surveys or learning to ask thoughtful follow-up questions that reveal useful management insights.

Additional considerations, such as making sure that in-person work and togetherness has a purpose, are important. Keeping an eye on inclusivity in hybrid work  is also crucial. Listening to what employees want, with an eye to their lived experience, will be vital to leaders in these settings. And a focus on output, outcomes, results, and impact—rather than arbitrary norms about time spent in offices— may be a necessary adaptation in the hybrid era .

How should CEOs lead in this new world?

Just as for leadership more broadly, today’s environment requires CEOs to lead very differently. Recent research indicates that one-third to one-half of new CEOs fail within 18 months.

What helps top performers thrive today? To find out, McKinsey led a research effort to identify the CEOs who achieved breakaway success. We examined 20 years’ worth of data on 7,800 CEOs—from 3,500 public companies across 70 countries and 24 industries. The result is the McKinsey book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner, March 2022). Watch an interview with the authors for more on what separates the best CEOs from the rest .

Getting perspective on leadership from CEOs themselves is enlightening—and illustrates the nuanced ways in which the new approach to leadership described above can be implemented in practice. Here are a few quotes drawn from McKinsey’s interviews with these top-level leaders :

• “I think the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and to help others accept the discomfort of disruptions to the status quo.” — Indra Nooyi , former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
• “The single most important thing I have to do as CEO is ensure that our brand continues to be relevant.” — Chris Kempczinski , CEO of McDonald’s
• “Leaders of other enterprises often define themselves as captains of the ship, but I think I’m more the ship’s architect or designer. That’s different from a captain’s role, in which the route is often fixed and the destination defined.” — Zhang Ruimin , CEO of Haier
• “I think my leadership style [can be called] ‘collaborative command.’ You bring different opinions into the room, you allow for a really great debate, but you understand that, at the end of the day, a decision has to be made quickly.” — Adena Friedman , CEO of Nasdaq
• “We need an urgent refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity. To find new ways for all of us to lead so that we can create a better future, a more sustainable future.” — Hubert Joly , former chairman and CEO of Best Buy

What is leadership development?

Leaders aren’t born; they learn to lead over time. Neuroplasticity refers to the power of the brain to form new pathways and connections through exposure to novel, unfamiliar experiences. This allows adults to adapt, grow, and learn new practices throughout our lifetimes.

When it comes to leadership within organizations, this is often referred to as leadership development. Programs, books, and courses on leadership development abound, but results vary.

Leadership development efforts fail for a variety of reasons. Some overlook context; in those cases, asking a simple question (something like “What, precisely, is this program for?”) can help. Others separate reflections on leadership from real work, or they shortchange the role of adjusting leaders’ mindsets, feelings, assumptions, and beliefs, or they fail to measure results.

So what’s needed for successful leadership development? Generally, developing leaders is about creating contexts where there is sufficient psychological safety in combination with enough novelty and unfamiliarity to cultivate new leadership practices in response to stimuli. Leadership programs that successfully cultivate leaders are also built around “placescapes”—these are novel experiences, like exploring wilderness trails, practicing performing arts, or writing poetry.

When crafting a leadership development program, there are six ingredients to incorporate  that lead to true organizational impact:

• Set up for success:
• Focus your leadership transformation on driving strategic objectives and initiatives.
• Commit the people and resources needed.
• Be clear about focus:
• Engage a critical mass of leaders to reach a tipping point for sustained impact.
• Zero in on the leadership shifts that drive the greatest value.
• Execute well:
• Architect experiential journeys to maximize shifts in mindsets, capabilities, and practices.
• Measure for holistic impact.

A well-designed and executed leadership development program can help organizations build leaders’ capabilities broadly, at scale. And these programs can be built around coaching, mentoring, and having people try to solve challenging problems—learning skills by applying them in real time to real work.

What are mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship?

Mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship can also be part of leadership development efforts. What are they? Mentorship refers to trusted counselors offering guidance and support on various professional issues, such as career progression. Sponsorship is used to describe senior leaders who create opportunities to help junior colleagues succeed. These roles are typically held by more senior colleagues, whereas apprenticeship could be more distributed. Apprenticeship  describes the way any colleague with domain expertise might teach others, model behaviors, or transfer skills. These approaches can be useful not only for developing leaders but also for helping your company upskill or reskill employees quickly and at scale.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on People & Organizational Performance . Learn more about McKinsey’s Leadership & Management  work—and check out job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Author Talks: What separates the best CEOs from the rest? ,” December 15, 2021, Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , and Vik Malhotra
• “ From the great attrition to the great adaptation ,” November 3, 2021, Aaron De Smet  and Bill Schaninger
• “ The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships ,” September 22, 2020, Tera Allas  and Bill Schaninger
• " Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st century organizations ," October 1, 2018, Aaron De Smet , Michael Lurie , and Andrew St. George
• " Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths ," 2017, Scott Keller  and Mary Meaney
• “ Leadership in context ,” January 1, 2016, Michael Bazigos, Chris Gagnon, and Bill Schaninger
• “ Decoding leadership: What really matters ,” January 1, 2015, Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

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Understanding Leadership

• W.C.H. Prentice

The would-be analyst of leadership usually studies popularity, power, showmanship, or wisdom in long-range planning. But none of these qualities is the essence of leadership. Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants—a human and social achievement that stems from the leader’s understanding of his or her fellow workers and the relationship of their individual goals to the group’s aim.

To be successful, leaders must learn two basic lessons: People are complex, and people are different. Human beings respond not only to the traditional carrot and stick but also to ambition, patriotism, love of the good and the beautiful, boredom, self-doubt, and many other desires and emotions. One person may find satisfaction in solving intellectual problems but may never be given the opportunity to explore how that satisfaction can be applied to business. Another may need a friendly, admiring relationship and may be constantly frustrated by the failure of his superior to recognize and take advantage of that need.

In this article, first published in HBR’s September–October 1961 issue, W.C.H. Prentice argues that by responding to such individual patterns, the leader will be able to create genuinely intrinsic interest in the work. Ideally, Prentice says, managerial dominions should be small enough that every supervisor can know those who report to him or her as human beings.

Prentice calls for democratic leadership that, without creating anarchy, gives employees opportunities to learn and grow. This concept, along with his rejection of the notion that leadership is the exercise of power or the possession of extraordinary analytical skill, foreshadows the work of more recent authors such as Abraham Zaleznik and Daniel Goleman, who have fundamentally changed the way we look at leadership.

Effective leaders take a personal interest in the long-term development of their employees, and they use tact and other social skills to encourage employees to achieve their best. It isn’t about being “nice” or “understanding”—it’s about tapping into individual motivations in the interest of furthering an organizationwide goal.

Attempts to analyze leadership tend to fail because the would-be analyst misconceives his task. He usually does not study leadership at all. Instead he studies popularity, power, showmanship, or wisdom in long-range planning. Some leaders have these things, but they are not of the essence of leadership.

• WP W.C.H. Prentice was formerly the president of Bryant and Stratton Business Institutes in Buffalo, New York, the president of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, and the dean of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. He is now retired.

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Feb 15, 2023

Essays on Leadership for Students | 200 - 500 Word Essays

Are you writing an essay about leadership? Check out these examples!

Leadership is often defined as "the action of inspiring others to act in concert to achieve a particular goal." It signifies the harmony in actions that lead to a common objective. A genuine leader not only exudes confidence but also paves the way for their followers towards triumph. Over the years, various leadership styles have been identified and discussed by psychologists.

 Qualities such as intelligence, adaptability, extroversion, innate self-awareness, and social competence often emerge as the hallmarks of impactful leaders. There's a consensus that these traits mold an individual into an effective leader. Interestingly, some theories suggest that extraordinary situations can thrust an ordinary individual into the spotlight, bestowing upon them the mantle of leadership. It's also believed that leadership isn't a static trait but an evolving journey. It underscores the belief that with dedication and the right resources, anyone can hone their leadership abilities.

 True leadership goes beyond merely advocating for a cause. It involves taking responsibility, igniting motivation in others, and differentiating oneself from just being a 'boss'. A leader's essence lies in their ability to inspire and propel people towards grand visions, whereas a manager typically focuses on oversight and operational aspects.

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay falls under the category of student application essays and serves to provide student admissions officers with insight into your past leadership experiences. Despite appearing to be very specific, this type of essay acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can vary significantly depending on the individual and the context.

 If you find yourself in need of further insights or a unique angle for your leadership essay, consider exploring an expert essay-writing tool designed to assist students in crafting compelling narratives by analyzing vast data and generating fresh ideas within minutes. In this article, we'll also delve into various leadership essay examples to offer a clearer understanding of the genre and inspire your writing journey.

4 Examples of Leadership Essays

Qualities of a good leader, introduction.

Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance. It's imperative for a leader to have faith in his own judgment and actions. How can people want to follow him if he doesn't even know what he's doing?

Every effective leader knows that they need to be an inspiration to their followers. A leader needs to set an example for his team. In addition, he ought to inspire them whenever feasible. A leader must also maintain optimism in trying times.

What qualities a good leader must have?

Leadership is the ability to influence and guide individuals or groups toward a common goal. A leader must possess several qualities to be effective, including:

Communication skills: A leader must be able to communicate their vision and goals clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. This requires excellent listening skills, empathy, and the ability to adapt to different communication styles.

Emotional intelligence: A leader must be able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This includes being able to understand and respond to the emotions of others, and handling conflicts in a constructive manner.

Visionary: A leader must have a clear and inspiring vision of the future, and be able to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to work towards it.

Strategic thinking: A leader must be able to think critically and creatively to identify and solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans and strategies to achieve their goals.

Flexibility: A leader must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be open to new ideas and perspectives. This requires the ability to embrace change, be innovative, and continuously learn and grow.

Integrity: A leader must have strong ethics and values, and be willing to make difficult decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. This requires honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Decisiveness: A leader must be able to make tough decisions quickly, without undue hesitation or procrastination. This requires courage and the ability to take calculated risks.

Empowerment: A leader must be able to delegate responsibilities, give team members the resources they need to succeed, and foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their team.

Conclusion 

These qualities are essential for effective leadership, and when combined with hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, can help leaders to achieve great things.

How one can be a Great Leader?

Leadership is the act of performing the duties of a leader. In the business world, for instance, it is essential to have someone in charge of a team to ensure everything runs well. Effective leadership is essential for any group that wants to maximize its prospects of success.

Leadership Comes from Experience

As we've shown, leadership can be innate in some cases but is more often learned through practice and exposure. Sometimes the best traits of a leader must be learned over a lengthy period of time, so that one can become a notable one, proving that leadership is not always about a person's innate qualities. Leaders should continuously be on the lookout for opportunities to grow their leadership skills.

Nobody can disagree that experience is a key component of leadership. Numerous examples exist to back up this claim, such as:

Instance 1:

Our school's head boy or girl has traditionally been an older student who has been around for a while and thus has a better grasp of the ins and outs of school politics.

Instance 2:

When there is a vacancy for a team leader, it is common practice for the employee who has consistently put in the most effort and attention to the office job to receive a higher number of votes than their coworkers. 

“The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.” - John C. Maxwell

How one can be a Great Leader/Skills to be a Great Leader?

Effective leadership is a skill that develops through time. Developing into a leader with all the qualities that are needed takes a lot of hard work and potential. Being a prominent leader calls for a wide variety of traits. Some of these characteristics are addressed in further detail below:

One should be a Good Communicator

To be an effective leader, one must be able to convey his thoughts clearly to his/her/its subordinates.

Should have Confidence

The individual should have faith in what he says and does.

Give Credit to other Team Members too

A leader not only needs to impose his viewpoints and opinions instead he must also hear to the suggestions of other members of the team and offer them credit if their concept is appropriate.

Good Bond with the Team

A leader's ability to command respect from his team members depends on his ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with them.

Leads with Responsibility

A leader needs to be completely committed to his position. It's important that he takes on responsibility so that he can effectively deal with the various challenges he will inevitably face.

Any group or organization needs a leader above all else. Leadership development takes time and effort. One needs to have lived through a lot to be an effective leader. It's not enough to simply have years of experience in the field; one must also have the traits that make one an effective leader. You can't be a great leader unless you possess certain traits.

What makes a Good Leader?

Trying one's hand as a leader appears easy when viewed through this lens. Is that so tough? Of course not; leading is difficult, and not everyone aspires to be a leader. The vast majority of us have settled into well-established careers where we report to superiors and make a living. Still, not everyone is content to go along with the crowd. They become leaders in whatever field they pursue. A leader is an example to followers and will prioritize the needs of those around them.

Some Unique Qualities of a Leader

Many individuals resort to their leaders to vent their frustrations, therefore it's important for them to be good listeners.

A leader ought to be completely forthright; they can't play favorites or give anyone preferential treatment. One of the most essential qualities of a strong leader is the ability to make decisions with integrity.

They need to be aware of the bigger picture and understand what makes an individual stand out or become a leader. It's their expertise in addition to other distinguishing traits. Their awareness of current events and the results of recent studies is essential. In many ways, this is helpful, and it's the leader's responsibility to stay current.

Since some might not understand them, they should utilize straightforward, easily comprehended language. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively at all times. In reality, what sets them apart is their exceptional communication skills. Adolf Hitler was such a gifted orator that his followers believed every word he said.

No matter how you're feeling or what's going on in the world, if you listen to a leader, they may make you feel energized. Since leaders are in charge of inspiring confidence in their followers, they can't afford to be wary or unsure of themselves. People tend to blindly follow their leaders.

Whether you're a leader or a doctor, you should devote yourself completely to your chosen field. Everything we do is for the benefit of others; engineers, for example, spend much of their time designing and constructing buildings for other people. So, take pride in what you do, and if you possess the aforementioned traits, you are also a leader who doesn't have to rely on others to succeed. No matter what you do, aspiring to leadership positions will always benefit others.

What is Leadership in Management and what are the weaknesses and strengths of a Leader?

Simply said, leadership is acting as a supervisor or manager of a group. Different mental pictures pop up when we hear the word "leadership" used in conversation. One might think of a political leader, team leader, corporate leader, school leader, etc. Leaders facilitate order and efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork and success are fundamental to effective leadership. Leaders utilize their managerial abilities to establish courses and guide their teams to success.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership

Able to express oneself more clearly

Growth of character.

Self-awareness.

Possession of teamwork skills.

Gain assurance in yourself.

Weaknesses:

Acting favorably toward one's teammates.

Having no faith in the leader.

Thinks they're better than everyone else, but act hypocritically.

Not living up to the promised standard.

Insufficient morals.

Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are inextricably linked to one another. Leadership and management are both vital to the efficient operation of an organization; but, they accomplish very different things in the process. Leadership is a necessary skill for anyone aspiring to be an effective manager. The terms management and leadership are synonymous with one another. In this manner, we are able to draw the conclusion that a manager who demonstrates the traits of a successful leader is, in fact, a manager who is effective.

Leadership in School

Leadership is essential in nearly every group, as we've seen above. That group includes one's educational institution. Every school needs an outstanding figure to serve as its head of school. Class monitor, assembly captain, cultural leader, etc. are all examples of leadership roles that can be taken on at school, but this raises the question of what makes a person a successful school leader.

Any student hoping to be chosen as a student body leader will need to demonstrate a wide range of competencies. He or she needs to be a consistent student who pays attention in class and does well in extracurricular activities. For the simple reason that no intelligent and hardworking kid would ever be considered for leadership. Student leaders are most often selected from among those who participate fully in all activities.

Leadership in Organization

Leadership in an organization, also known as organizational leadership, is the process of establishing long-term objectives that further the company's mission and help it reach its ultimate destination. This is a classic illustration of how Bill Gates often works with his team: they agree on a strategy, and Gates implements it. To the same extent, it is the responsibility of the leader in each given organization to determine what it is that the group is trying to accomplish.

Leadership in Politics

Leadership in politics, also known as political leadership, is the process of becoming actively involved in a political party in the role of a party leader. Knowledge of political processes, their outcomes, and the political agenda is central to the idea of political leadership.

An effective leader can be developed in anyone who has the determination and drives to do so. Both the strengths and the areas for improvement should be nurtured. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or the political arena, leadership is always necessary. Therefore, one can exercise leadership anywhere they like inside their own organization.

What are the types of Leadership?

The ability to lead is a rare trait that not everyone possesses. The ability to do so is a gift, so count your blessings if you possess it. It's recommended that you hone it even more so that you can propel your career forward and serve as an example to people around you. However, it is crucial to grasp the various leadership styles before you go ahead and polish your skills.

Types of Leadership Styles

Democratic Leadership

In this style of management, subordinates are given a voice in decision-making. Although the subordinates' efforts are highlighted, the leader is ultimately held responsible for the group's actions. Many people find this type of leadership to be effective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others to adopt new behaviors and ways of thinking in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams and organizations. A transformational leader is someone who encourages their team to strive for greater things and works to boost morale and output.

Team Leadership

A good leader fully incorporates his team into the task at hand. Members of the team are motivated to reach their goals and advance in their careers thanks to the leadership of the group.

Strategic Leadership

It requires a chief executive who doesn't restrict himself to brainstorming sessions with his superiors. He contributes on every level of the team. He is well-liked for his ability to unite the need for fresh ideas with the necessity of grounding them in reality.

Autocratic Leadership

The leader in a command and control structure is the center of attention. The chief executive has absolute power in this setting. He decides things on his own, without polling his staff. He relays this information to his staff and stresses the importance of swift action. The buck stops with him, and he alone must answer for his actions. Not much room for negotiation exists. It's no secret that this method of leading has its detractors.

Visionary Leadership

This kind of leader appreciates the abilities and requirements of his team members. He describes his ideal outcome and the teamwork that will be necessary to attain it.

Coaching Leadership

Leaders who coach their teams do so regularly in an effort to raise output. He inspires his employees to do better and works to keep them motivated. This approach to leadership has been much praised.

Facilitative Leadership

With occasional guidance, a facilitative leader ensures that the process runs smoothly for his team. As a precaution in case his team is ineffective. If the team is highly effective, the leader will take a hands-off approach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The leadership of this type is necessary when interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds. Because of the wide variety of cultures represented in the workforce across the United States, many managers and executives hold cross-cultural positions.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

The members of the team are given responsibility in this style of management. They are free to choose how they spend their time at work, with minimal oversight from the boss. It's not a good way to lead, according to experts.

Transactional Leadership

An interactive approach is integral to this kind of leadership. When team members successfully implement their leader's ideas and choices, they are rewarded with immediate, material benefits.

Charismatic Leadership

In order to bring out the best in his followers, this kind of leader makes the effort to change their attitudes, values, and actions.

This article should dispel the notion that leadership qualities can't be further subdivided. It should also assist you in pinpointing your own personal brand of leadership so you can perfect it over time.

Final Words

In conclusion, leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves various qualities and skills. Effective leaders possess traits such as integrity, vision, empathy, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire and motivate others. They are able to navigate challenges, make difficult decisions, and lead their team toward success. Leadership also involves continuous learning and self-improvement, as leaders must adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant. Effective leadership can have a positive impact on both individuals and organizations, fostering growth and creating a culture of success.

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Leadership: Definition and Values Essay

Introduction, definition of leadership, leadership values, definition of empathy, the impact of empathy on company performance.

While participating in class discussions, I have noticed that most of my skills have developed to a great extent. Particular attention needs to be paid to qualities such as leadership and empathy. In today’s world, these skills are highly valued, so developing them is very important. These qualities are undoubtedly necessary for life; they are applicable in all fields. Leadership and empathy will help me reach the heights of my career and become a highly skilled professional.

Psychology and sociology define leadership in the same way, as some social influence in a group with the expectation of achieving common goals. Accordingly, a leader is a person who has this influence (Banks et al., 2022). The leader must have qualities to help the team achieve the most effective joint work. Most companies worldwide require leadership development to organize to be as efficient as possible (McCauley & Palus, 2021).

A whole expert environment has developed in this area, manifested by a huge amount of theoretical material and practical classes. A person can learn techniques, techniques, and certain ways of communication and develop the skills of a real leader, to master all that is offered by courses, training, and other events. However, unfortunately, they do not teach empathy, determination and courage, diligence, and a passion for achieving goals. These qualities are not skills but personal characteristics that depend on the individual.

I think these characteristics are inherent to me, and working in the classroom has only helped me improve this skill. Since childhood, I have liked to take an active role in games, acting as a leader. For example, I can give an example of my activities in school: when it was necessary to organize an event, I always took responsibility. I liked to organize the process and manage the team. I think I was very good at it because I always got praise from my classmates and teachers.

In leadership, it is very important to follow specific values shaped by a particular leadership experience. The first value I can identify is the search for ways and opportunities. Leaders go beyond what they are used to, taking risks and experimenting. Of course, not all experiments are successful and can often have disastrous results, but sometimes it is impossible to achieve something new using traditional methods. Leaders are not afraid to take risks and step outside their comfort zone. A leader is in constant motion and search; any motion is about overcoming obstacles and limitations.

The next value is giving direction to employees. A leader can look at the situation more broadly and from the outside. This makes it possible to work out a movement strategy and be ready for different scenarios of the situation, quickly making adjustments in response to changes in the surrounding world. The leader creates a clear image of the future and communicates it to others. A sincere desire to achieve a goal goes beyond the personal self, infecting others with enthusiasm.

I can form the third value of leadership: empowering others to act. Successful leaders help subordinates grow and assert themselves by enhancing competence, involving them in decision-making processes, and objectively evaluating their contributions. A leader needs to help his subordinates become leaders, grow professionals, and delegate more and more authority to his subordinates, which will encourage people to reach new heights in response. Encouraging a new vision is undoubtedly important; the leader motivates the team to innovate. The leader needs to show human attention, care, and personal gratitude because people appreciate it and reach for greater goals.

The last value is setting an example and following the mission and values. The company’s mission and system of values are the most important elements of any business organization’s existence and long-term development. This system serves as a constitution by which the whole organization lives. The values provide answers to questions about the mechanisms of decision-making under conditions of high uncertainty and risk.

The next quality I developed in myself is empathy. Empathy is conscious empathy for the emotional state of others, the ability to recognize what they are feeling, and to express compassion. Empathy differs from sympathy in that it creates a connection between people instead of disconnection (RSA, 2013). The skill of empathy helps a person feel a sense of belonging to what is happening to a person, and the person will understand that his or her emotions are important to others. This skill is necessary for building interpersonal relations because it is possible to find a common language, come to agreements, and develop a strategy that satisfies both parties only if one can put oneself in the other’s shoes.

Empathy affects a company’s image, efficiency, and quality of work of its employees. Loud statements that employers give to their employees do not always turn out to be reality. This reduces trust in the company and the desire to work in it. However, as soon as management keeps its promises, the company is transformed, and employees begin to trust their bosses and willingly perform their duties.

Empathy influences innovation because to develop a good idea; an employee must genuinely want to help the person and solve their problems. This approach helps employees create more personalized technologies to meet customer needs. Empathy impacts sales and service because empathetic service builds relationships between customers and managers. This approach is often found in coffee shops, restaurants, and the luxury segment when the client wants to sincerely help, serve, and learn about his affairs – this inevitably increases sales.

Empathy affects employee engagement; they have a higher goal than earnings. It is embedded in the cultural code; employees see their coworkers empathizing with their customers. Then they get more engaged; they want to come to work and talk to customers. They realize they can make someone’s day better and see a smile on another person’s face.

I have this quality because I can empathize and put myself in another person’s shoes. I need to understand that my employees or clients feel comfortable. I am always willing to come to the rescue if needed. A good company is built on trust and understanding between employees and supervisors. I understand that good interpersonal relationships are only possible with such a quality as empathy.

Thus, I can say that these qualities are very important in building a career. Without leadership qualities, it is impossible to manage a team, and without empathy, it is impossible to achieve the role of a good leader. That is why I can say that these skills are interrelated. When a person achieves one of them, the achievement of the next one becomes inevitable. I continue to improve these qualities, as constant development is crucial in achieving any goal.

Banks, G. C., Dionne, S. D., Mast, M. S., & Sayama, H. (2022). Leadership in the digital era: A review of who, what, when, where, and why . The Leadership Quarterly , 101634. Web.

McCauley, C. D., & Palus, C. J. (2021). Developing the theory and practice of leadership development: A relational view . The Leadership Quarterly , 32 (5), 101456. Web.

RSA. (2013). Brené Brown on Empathy . [Video]. YouTube. Web.

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Defining Leadership

• Published: 26 July 2022
• Volume 22 , pages 99–128, ( 2023 )

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• David Carl Wilson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7098-3634 1 , 2  

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This essay examines the concept of leadership as it is commonly understood within the field of leadership studies today. The inquiry is framed by an analysis of three generally accepted definitions of leadership. I look at the selected definitions from four angles, which I call the four dimensions of leadership: the behavioral (what the leader does, or ought to do, that makes it leadership), the asymmetrical (in what sense a leader is different from the others in the group), the social (what it is that the leader is leading), and the teleological (what the direction is). By doing this, I find that these definitions can be problematic, if instructively so. I identify two underlying concerns. The first problem is the tendency to fuse informal and formal leadership into a single concept. I argue that informal and formal leadership can be more helpfully understood, rather, as two separate, if sometimes overlapping, concepts, each needing its own definition and analysis. This is because formal leadership is a functional concept, while informal leadership is not; this entails not only that each type of leader is leading a different type of entity, but also that each is judged by different standards. The second problem is, paradoxically, a bias against leadership. To put this less polemically: scholars who recognize that organizational success can be hindered by excessive emphasis upon hierarchy, and who thus study the dynamics of egalitarian collaboration, can inadvertently generate confusion by allowing the honorific of “leadership” to be applied also to that work. So, I propose definitions of the two key concepts, formal and informal leadership, with the suggestion that this provides a helpful method of sorting leadership scholarship into three categories: formal leadership; informal leadership; and egalitarianism.

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A critical analysis of Elon Musk’s leadership in Tesla motors

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Alice Canavesi & Eliana Minelli

What Is Leadership?

Joseph Rost provided an exhaustive account of almost a century’s worth of leadership definitions in his 1991 book. See (Rost 1991 ). At that point, interest in defining it (and interest in Rost’s own definition) waned. Here are four recent efforts since Rost’s book, none of which has gained traction: (Barker 2001 , 469); (Avolio et al. 2003 , 277); (Kort 2008 , 409); (Crevani 2018 , 83). Each of our three textbooks provides its own list of historical definitions, mostly drawn from the Rost compendium.

The general conceptual problem is credited to (Gallie 1956 , 167).

Not only do these books reflect the state of the academic field, but, in turn, it is likely that they influence it. Given their widespread use, many leadership scholars have probably begun by studying one of these books, or by studying with someone who has done so, and thus their own research has likely been informed from the start by these very definitions.

There is a downside to this strategy. As noted, each textbook aims to present the state of the art in leadership studies. Some of the scholars I have already cited, however, find the state of the art to be less than coherent, and partly owing to disagreements about how to define the art itself. Perhaps, then, the most we can expect of the expert textbook writer is to seek as much coherence and utility as possible, without simultaneously litigating the disagreements in order to rehabilitate the discipline. Textbook authors have justification, that is, for putting forward definitions that are inclusive enough to encompass everything that currently passes for leadership studies, even while perhaps tacitly understanding that a better definition might disqualify large portions of their books. This can contribute to the “everything and nothing” syndrome. That is not to deny that these authors, all of whom are scholars in their own right, engage critically with their subject; my point is the smaller one that they have reason in this context to keep their definitions of leadership as elastic as possible.

Joanne Ciulla also discusses criteria for defining leadership in her contribution to the Antonakis volume, and is largely content to rely on ostension (A, 443).

Determining which is the concept and which is the conception depends upon the starting point. If we are analyzing measuring instruments, then a clock would be one way of measuring things, and so would, in such a case, be a conception of the concept of a measuring instrument. Or, it could go in the other direction. If our focus is solely on battery-operated clocks, then that could be the relevant concept, whereas different ways of realizing battery-operated clocks would count as conceptions.

Northouse writes: “…My purpose is to explore how leadership theory can inform and direct the way leadership is practiced” (N, vii). Antonakis notes that “leadership…is arguably one of the most important functions of society,” (A, xxiii) and that “research must…adequately inform practice” (A, 14). And Yukl concurs: “Topics of special interest are the determinants of leadership effectiveness and how leadership can be improved” (Y, 16).

Machiavelli has something similar in mind when he writes, “Many have dreamed up republics and principalities which have never in truth been known to exist.” Rather, he explains: “Since my intention is to say something that will prove of practical use to the inquirer, I have thought it proper to represent things as they are in real truth, rather than as they are imagined” (Machiavelli 1961 , 91).

Comment from an anonymous reviewer.

See, for example, (Fuss 2013 , xi).

This was my worry about Yukl’s idea that there might be a technical academic meaning of leadership.

Yukl engages in something like this when he excludes certain sorts of organizations, such as parliaments and social movements, from his purview (Y, 16).

This distinction is neatly developed by (Robinson 1972 , 59).

Some of this is drawn from a detailed account of how semantic ambiguity can derail a conversation, and how to avoid it, in (Wilson 2020 ).

Another objection to settling for dictionary definitions—an objection too far-reaching to explore here–might be that we are, in principle, examining not a word but a concept; our definition needs to capture what it is about this word that is common to words found in the dictionaries of other languages which express the same concept.

This is to be distinguished from the participle “leading,” which functions as an adjective or adverb. “Leadership” can also, of course, be pressed into service as an adjective, as in the case of, say “leadership studies.” And, as a noun, it can secondarily refer to a status, as in, “Let’s take this problem to leadership.”.

See also, for example, (Peterson and Seligman 2004 ).

Antonakis, to be fair, later offers a definition of the science of leadership in which his leader does some work; the science of leadership, he says, is the study of “how this process depends on the leader’s traits and behaviors” and how they bear on “the outcomes of the entity led” (A, 5). But his definition of leadership, the thing that this science is to study, has given us no way to identify who it might be whose traits and behaviors we might study.

“Emergent” has been used for decades in leadership studies to capture leadership that is, in effect, appearing out of nowhere, in contrast to having appeared systematically as formal, appointed, assigned, or selected leadership. That is, it has been used to capture leadership that is informal. Here is a passage from a paper by Judge, et.al. cited by David Day, Antonakis’s co-editor: “Leadership emergence is a within-group phenomenon, as evidenced by many early studies of leadership that were conducted in groups with no formal leader…that is, a leader emerged from within a group.” (Judge et al. 2002 , 767). Day, surprisingly, cites this passage as proof that “it is most definitely not the case” that “emergent” and “informal” are synonymous in the leadership literature. (“Thus,” he says, “it is most definitely not the case that in the place of ‘informal,’ the preferred synonym is ‘emergent.’” Day’s comments are from private communication, used by permission.) My reading of the Judge passage is different, to wit: when leaders emerge within “groups with no formal leader,” they have thereby been stipulated not to be formal leaders; that is, they are informal leaders, unless and until they become formal leaders—at which point they are no longer merely emergent. So the passage seems to me to confirm the practical interchangeability of the two terms. I agree, of course, that they are not precise synonyms (nor are “formal,” “appointed,” “assigned,” and “selected”). “Informal” is strictly the condition of not being formal, while “emergent” carries the suggestion of a progression that is underway. But because the progression is not a formal one, and may or may not culminate in formalization, the literature often uses “emergent” to pick out that lack of formality. There are examples in the literature of so-called emergent, and thereby informal, leadership both inside and outside of formal groups in, for example (Hollander 1961 , 32). There are even examples in the literature of emergent leadership among primates, as in (van Vugt 2018 ). And there are examples of emergent leadership that becomes formal, even as in other cases it remains informal, as in (Luria and 

Berson 2013 , 995).

We know from experience, of course, that if shared too widely the dilution renders it nonexistent, for practical purposes.

What I can do, of course, is also affected by my personal capabilities. Note that the literature often calls these positional , rather than using the existing and perfectly idiomatic term official.

“Showing leadership” also applies to someone who does not have the formal position but whose behavior reflects the ability to carry out the responsibilities of such a position.

This idea is further developed in (Wilson 2017 , 185).

Even in the cases when the behavior can be described the same way, say, as “inspiring a group member to achieve great things,” the formal leader’s behavior can also be an instance of “acting in order to carry out the obligation to lead the organization,” which cannot be a description of the informal leader’s behavior.

Yukl’s inclusion of facilitation as well as influence puts his definition in a stronger position to encompass a broader range of behavior. But, for him, the facilitation is also a process, and he fails to identify the place of the leader in the process; that is, he omits any identification of the facilitator.

See especially chapters 5 and 7. In addition to the process of leadership, Rost does discuss what he calls the “content” of leadership, which he describes as the moral element of “the changes (decisions, policies, positions) that one supports” (Rost 1991 ,153). Rost does not, however, work out this distinction very helpfully, and it has not received serious attention since then.

And, for Yukl, also the process of facilitating.

David Day, private communication, quoted by permission.

This is developed further in (Wilson 2018 , 377).

Yukl, in fact, may be warning against just that when he stipulates that the process and the person “are not assumed to be equivalent” (Y, 26).

And there is no need, so far as I can tell, to try to specify here how many individuals make a group.

Influence, says Northouse, is “how the leader affects followers.” (N, 6). Yukl designates all non-leaders as followers (Y, 22). And Antonakis takes care to “recognize the importance of followers,” and to acknowledge that it is “largely because of followers that leaders are legitimized” (A, 6).

It may be that this is where Antonakis is going by stating in his definition of leadership that it is “contextually rooted;” that is, he may be indicating that leadership is different things in different contexts, partly as a way of nodding to the contingency and contextual theories of leadership that are covered by contributing authors in his textbook.

I take my cue from Rawls, whose theory of justice is intended to apply only under what he denotes “the circumstances of justice.” (Rawls 1971 , 126).

Although “institution” and “organization” are often distinguished from one another in the organizational studies literature, I take him to be using the terms interchangeably here. Note that Philip Selznick, for example, sketches out a well-known contrast between organizations and institutions in (Selznick 1957 , 5).

There is a growing body of philosophical literature in social ontology and collective intentionality. It would be a diversion to review all of that literature and its controversies here; my aim is to adumbrate the central compelling case that there is, indeed, something about an organization that transcends the aggregation of its members.

See, for example (Ripken 2019 ).

It is not strictly correct to classify moral considerations as external, since they are human considerations, and the group is made up of humans. The internal standards for the right direction might be very different if the sole difference in the organization were that only robots were members. But this rough-and-ready distinction is, I hope, nevertheless useful.

The paraphrased definitions seem to be in the right neighborhood for informal (but not formal) leadership, although in need of wordsmithing. Antonakis identifies it as “influencing the goals of the followers,” and for Yukl it is about “agreeing what needs to be done and how to do it;” these are beliefs and values, however, not actions. My informal leadership could consist in stirring you from your inertia in order to act in ways, and toward goals, that you already accepted. Northouse identifies the teleology in terms of influence “to achieve a common goal” and having a “mutual purpose;” that is often true, but I might also be an informal leader by virtue of influencing each of you to pursue your own self-interest in a specific way (for example, by boosting your individual sales, having gained your following by my own record-setting example).

This notion is elaborated helpfully by (MacIntyre 1981 , 58).

For example, there is the issue of organizational teleology—the goals of the organization itself, which may be different from the goals of its members, and which seem to be an important factor in leadership teleology (making it triply teleological?). Further, there is the issue of the extent to which good formal leadership can be separated from moral, or human, leadership, given the simple fact that, even though powers-that-be create the function, these are human beings and not robots. But these questions are best saved for another time.

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Wilson, D.C. Defining Leadership. Philosophy of Management 22 , 99–128 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-022-00210-7

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• How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)

Leadership is a complex concept, but it’s essential for boosting your career. That’s why a leadership essay focuses on applying the theoretical models and concepts of successful management to real-life situations. 

If you don’t know where to start writing such a paper, please read on for professional tips!

What Is Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a paper that analyzes leadership concepts and their application to real-life situations that may involve everyday business management, crisis situations, and other scenarios. 

Every essay on leadership is about defining a concept. Then, it’s either comparing it to similar management tools or proving that it’s useful (or not).

While some students enjoy writing such papers, other learners hate them. The below samples will come in handy, no matter which group is yours.

What Does Leadership Mean to You? (Essay Sample)

It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself:

• Who is a good leader?  
• What style do they use?  
• What are the situations when they might switch styles?

You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to. In the example below, you will see the academic approach to this topic. It analyzes three leadership styles to discover which one corresponds to the meaning of leadership if one thinks of it as guidance and support.

Why I Want to Participate in a Leadership Program (Essay Sample)

It’s another example of a popular topic. Such papers often have a meaning beyond the classroom since they may decide whether you plan to participate in a specific program. It’s critical to make them as effective and compelling as possible.

A personalized approach is the best when it comes to essays like this. In the example below, you will see the paper that relies on individual beliefs and a personal life story to explain why it’s so important for the specific student to participate in the chosen program.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence,  aka  a thesis statement. That’s where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

Each body paragraph should correspond to the purpose of your essay. To ensure you don’t stray from the aim you’ve established in the thesis statement, write the topic sentences for all your paragraphs in the outline . In simple words, write the first sentence of every paragraph to define its development in advance and see if you cover everything you need.

And now, to the conclusion:

Its most essential element is thesis restatement or the first sentence of that paragraph. It’s not just paraphrasing your thesis; it’s also considering the new information you’ve discovered while writing the essay.

Structure :

• Introduction (End it with a thesis statement.)
• Body paragraphs (Each one starts with a topic sentence.)
• Conclusion (Start it with a thesis restatement.)

Understand the purpose of a leadership essay

When starting to write, think about why you’re creating this paper. Before you sit down and type the words, think about the ideas you want to convey and their meaning in your life:

Can this essay teach you to take responsibility? Or maybe will it help you understand how to be a leader in crisis situations? When you’ve answered the “why” question, begin outlining.

Build a strong thesis

Always start with your thesis statement. It will help incorporate your answer to that notorious “why” question into your essay. Once done, you can plan out the rest of the paper and start working on the body paragraphs as soon as you finish the introduction.

There’s another important tip —don’t rush into writing the conclusion before you finish everything else!

It might seem like a good idea to create a thesis statement and thesis restatement right off the bat. However, you’ll find yourself with more refreshing ideas after completing all the research and thinking necessary for the introduction and each body paragraph.

Decide on a structure; format accordingly

Even if your essay about leadership seems not so formal, and you can use personal pronouns, you still need a clear structure.

The best way to write any academic paper is to keep your introduction and conclusion as short as possible. (But no shorter than three sentences and four lines of text). 

Another important tip is to try making all your body paragraphs equal in length. That way, you’ll give the same attention to all the vital points of your essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay on Leadership Now?

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the most critical elements of a leadership essay. 

Remember the structure, grammar, and appropriate academic style to create a top-level paper. Please don’t forget to answer the “why” question and remember  why  you’re writing. Then you’ll impress everyone with your results!

References:

• https://lsa.umich.edu/onsf/news-events/all-news/directors-blog/writing-leadership-essays.html
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A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Attempting a leadership essay isn’t such a daunting task, provided you have a grasp of the necessary information needed for a leadership paper. To write this special essay, you’ll need to redefine what exactly an essay on leadership is, how to choose the perfect topic, what should be in the content, and how to organize and structure the paper. Let’s delve deeper!

What Is A Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a well-formatted, organized and specialized type of formal writing which elaborates on a generic leadership topic or a superior human figure exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals.

What Makes A Good Leader Essay?

There are some peculiarities needed to infuse in your write-up if, for example, you’re trying to learn how to write a leadership essay about yourself.

Also, if you’re just trying to produce leadership essays for college, then you’d first and foremost, learn  how to structure an essay , among other skills needed for this type of essay. Here are some qualities which can be found in a good essay about leadership.

• Choose a creative topic
• Avoid the passive voice (the active voice sounds stronger)
• Search for and study leadership essay examples
• Follow the appropriate essay style
• Focus on the essay structure
• Review the essay

How To Choose A Topic And Make A Great Title?

To choose a topic for a paper on leadership, you need to do some research on the concept of a leader (whether in the corporate industry, political society or even in the criminal world). You have to know the current leadership tendencies in organizational groups or society. You can choose to make a leader the point of your reference by explaining the consequences of their leadership abilities or inabilities.

In the body of your essay, don’t forget to mention several types of leadership styles and point out which one the subject portrays. Finally, you should not rule out making comparisons of famous leaders in the modern world or in history. An example of a great prompt for a leadership essay that deploys the comparison technique would be the leadership styles of President Trump and The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte as both leadership styles have been subjected to political reviews in recent times since their emergence as president of their respective countries.

Outline For A Leadership Essay

When writing a college or professional essay such as -long and short essays on leadership, planning is the key to perfection. The general outline for any essay, including leadership papers, include an introduction, the body paragraphs (which must be properly linked with transition words and/or phrases) and a recapitulating or finding-based conclusions. Here’s what your outline should look like:

Introduction

Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader’s attention. The introduction presents the thesis statement and leaves the body paragraphs to sustain the reader’s interest.

Body Paragraphs

Having informed the readers of the topic of the essay in the introductory paragraph(s), the body paragraphs follow immediately.

Here, you can elaborate on the concept of leadership and do a meaningful interpretation of the subject – the topic or the thesis statement. Don’t forget to talk about your leadership philosophies and leadership experience in whatever capacity you might have found yourself in. Remember, people are more interested in personal experiences. They are great in helping to sustain readers’ attention.

Remember to state a thesis or hypothesis in the opening paragraphs – which is the intro. In each of the body paragraphs of the essay, try to relate your points to the thesis and use each point to prove its validity.

The conclusion is the end part of any well-structured essay. Its purpose is a no-brainer. You don’t want to leave your reader hanging by ending the essay cold turkey. Any standard essay without a conclusion is just as useless as an essay with no purpose. However, be careful not to present new ideas not mentioned in the body.

As mentioned, the conclusion serves to summarize the developed points, restate the thesis and/or present the findings. It is your last opportunity to create an impression on the reader, and this is where they take the message away. If your conclusion is weak, then we might say the essay’s objectives are not achieved.

What To Include In A Leadership Essay?

Here are some tips on what your leadership essay should include.

Your Definition Of A Good Leader And Why He Or She Is Important

Since your essay revolves around leadership and the traits of a good leader, you’ll need to define what it takes to be one. You may also take this opportunity to trash some common myths on what a leader is (i.e., a manager being confused for a leader).

For reference purposes, the concepts of leadership and being a good leader are explained:

Leadership is the quality of a leader and is that person capable of exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals. A leader is a guide; someone with ideas and goals that can spread to a large group of people who still believe he or she can lead them in the right direction.

There are many types of leaders and therefore, of leadership since people generally always look for a person or group that shows them a direction to follow. You can find religious, political, social, or philosophical leadership. Leadership can be exercised in a traditional way. In many countries, there is a monarchy. The king or queen is a leader with limited political power, at least in western democracies, but still have the respect and consideration of the people. Their words continue to be heard and taken into account, especially in problematic times. There are other types of leadership that are not given by birth, such as legitimate leadership exercised by, for example, political leaders freely chosen by their people, or charismatic leaders.

In a way, charismatic leaders are what many understand as leaders since they are people who, by their way of behavior and characteristics, get many people to follow and adhere to their ideas. Some charismatic leaders can become legitimate leaders if they choose the path of politics. A traditional leader can also be charismatic. There have always been kings loved by his people more than others. But it can also be a person who prefers independent movements outside of power.

Charisma is the personal magnetism a person has. It is something very difficult to define but makes one capable of convincing others without too much effort, making people follow and trust the leading figure. Charisma can be used positively or negatively. The leaders of the most destructive sects are very charismatic people that are capable of convincing their followers of the eeriest ideas, including donating all their belongings or committing collective suicide.

Examples Of Your Leadership Style

In the content of your essay, you may consider giving an interpretation to your (or your chosen leader’s) leadership traits. Below are some examples of leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a bad leader.

What qualities are necessary for leadership

• Communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Strategic thinking
• Commitment and passion
• Knowledge and experience
• Leading by example
• Active listening
• Ability to enhance talent
• Setting goals and expectations
• People investment
• Discernment
• Concentration
• Positive attitude
• Problem-solving
• Self-discipline

Leadership Essay Example

To know how to do essay fast, you’ll need some ready-made essay examples for the sake of guidance and inspiration. You may find below a leadership essay written by Oliver Smith useful in your leadership paper.

Writing a leadership essay should be easy. A good essay on leadership starts from the hook, and the thesis statement in the introduction. The points developed in the body paragraphs help affirm the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusion offers the reader a summary through the restatement of the essay’s main idea.

As required for every essay type, your essay on leadership has to follow a definite style and format. Examples are MLA, APA, Chicago and AP styles. Take your time in choosing a creative but new topic and also in writing the content. By following this guide, everything should be as perfect as possible.

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Essay Samples on Leadership

What type of leader i am: examining my leadership.

What type of leader are you? This question delves into the unique qualities, values, and approaches that define my leadership style. As a leader, I recognize that my actions and decisions influence others, and understanding my leadership style is crucial for effective collaboration and impact....

• Leadership Styles

How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

Becoming an effective leader requires more than just holding a position of authority; it entails embodying qualities that inspire and guide individuals toward shared goals. Whether leading a team, an organization, or a community, effective leadership is marked by the ability to foster collaboration, motivate...

• Effective Leadership

How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

Leadership is a multifaceted skill that involves guiding and inspiring individuals or groups toward a common goal. While leadership styles may vary, there are essential qualities and practices that define effective leadership. In this essay, we will explore how to be a good leader, discuss...

Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

Are leaders born or made? This age-old question has ignited debates, discussions, and exploration into the realms of leadership. The inquiry into whether leadership is an innate trait or a cultivated skill has intrigued scholars, practitioners, and curious minds. This essay delves into the heart...

• Leadership Development

Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

Successful leaders possess distinct traits and qualities that set them apart. One such leader is Barack Obama, who exemplifies several key leadership characteristics. Inspirational communication, unwavering conviction, and a willingness to take risks are among the qualities that have contributed to Obama's success. Furthermore, Obama's...

• Barack Obama
• President of The United States

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Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

Everybody can be a leader. Nevertheless, I feel that not every individual can lead effectively. I also believe that it is not a position but a process. Leadership is an action to influence other people to move and accomplish the same goal. Leaders are ineffective...

• Leadership and Management

Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

This reflective essay is an analytical look into my leadership experience not only as a leader but also as a member of a group. I specifically adopted the situational approach and the path-goal theory when presented with different leadership challenges hence the adoption of changing...

My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

I acquired leadership skills from early adulthood based on my experiences in church and my family. I developed organisational, resilience and other leadership skills which have been honed over the years. My leadership skills continued in secondary school when I started volunteering and campaigning against...

What Is Leadership For You

It is a general term that can have very different meanings with broader possibilities and scales associated with it, and it goes through some evolution with constant permutations and combinations that go on forever. It starts from ancient times and then into the Middle Ages...

Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

Dedication, strength, honor, and integrity, are just a few of the descriptive words that can be used to define a leadership role. Accountability, knowledge, as well as integrity are words used to help describe professionalism. Notice how the words used to describe these roles are...

The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

For countless millennia, we had witnessed the birth of several societies and organizations that had flourished from successful leadership. Today, in modern businesses you could immediately tell how the leadership it had evolved into at present and the leadership it had decades earlier. Take for...

• Personal Qualities

The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

My leadership philosophy is established about the need for a leader to encourage and inspire to do what motivates them. It can be accomplished by a leader and at the same time attaining the goals and the task of the team, department, institution, or corporation...

• Personal Beliefs

Chelladurai's Model Of The Leadership

The model that is used for leadership in sports would be the Chelladurai's model of leadership. Chelladurai's model is a framework which builds on research from non-sporting settings in order to analyze effective leadership in sport. The fundamental target of the leader is to achieve...

Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

Since the beginning of people’s lives, everyone makes choices and decisions which gradually define a person itself. It is often difficult to identify whether the decision was good or bad because each person has a different level of awareness of the importance. Some things which...

Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American technology entrepreneur and the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon.com. Since high school, he has had an interest in computer science which led to him pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986....

Management Vs Leadership: The Good And The Bad Of Being A Manager

Being a manager is a job. Being a leader is a role. Increasingly companies are seeing that you need both skills for an effective work environment. In the article, “What Leaders Really Do” by John Kotter, John highlights the differences between a leaders and managers,...

Ender's Game Character Analysis Essay

A mission that decides the destiny of humanity, its survival or obliteration, is a challenge many will succumb to. Failure is not an option. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who fights in...

• Ender's Game

The Rule of Charlemagne: The Development of Europe Under Successful Leadership

“Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.”- Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, Charles the Great and the Father of Europe was an important Germanic figure in medieval times and has...

• Charlemagne

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational Leadership deals with the motivation, inspiration, and encouragement of the personnel in order to carry out the innovative and creative change. This change directly helps the company in the growth and allows the scope for development. This leadership style is based on improving the...

• Charismatic Leadership

What Makes a Leader Charismatic

Leadership is a dense genre that had remained under debate regarding the difference in opinions of the definition and components of leadership, and either it is intrinsic quality or learned behavior. Despite all the debate, Leadership can be contributed as a personal impact that is...

The Influence of Mansa Musa's Leadership

The most important aspects of this topic would be the importance of Mansa rebuilding the Mali empire. After he helped rebuild the empire they were more powerful and had a more important standing within society. The emperor who came to make a difference within their...

My Motivation to Obtain the Darwin T. Turner Scholarship

The Darwin T. Turner Scholarship is a program of diversity and leadership initiatives. Hello, my name is Simratdeep Kaur and I believe I should be a Turner Scholar because I show great potential in the future. I have maintained great academics, participated in many school...

• Scholarship

What Does Being Inducted into National Honor Society Mean to Me

From the time I was inducted into National Junior Honor Society in seventh grade, I had always dreamed of the day when I would walk across the stage to become a part of National Honor Society. I have been continuously determined to do my very...

• National Honor Society

The Four Tenets of National Honor Society I Exemplify in My Everyday Life

Induction into the National Honor Society validates academic goals that I have worked extremely hard towards thus far. Membership would not only help maintain my academic performance, but assist me in accomplishing further goals of my school career. Getting accepted into NHS has been a...

A Brave Leader: The Success of Rosa Parks Leadership

Refusing to give up your seat on the bus; a seemingly trivial decision in the goings-on of everyday life. Maybe one would be considered rude, or irritate others – but beyond that, the effects of the refusal would seem relatively insignificant. How is it then,...

• Racial Segregation

Implementation of Leadership and Personal Development Planning in South Africa

Introduction Post-1994, the dream of the masses (previously disadvantaged groups), was a vision of self-governance, prosperity, equality, liberation and a sense of belonging and patriotism. Most of all, the yoke of Apartheid was demolished, it was a new future that held promise, a better life...

• Personal Development Planning

The History of Syrian Leadership and Its Impact on the State of a Country

Syria became one of the most discussed and controversial countries in the world in recent years due to its ongoing armed conflict. Millions of Syrians escaped from their homeland looking for a shelter and a better future abroad causing internal conflicts in highly developed countries...

The Concept of Leadership and Mother Teresa as Its Vivid Illustration

Leaders have the power and the intellect behind the organization, and they have the capability to influence the ones working for the company to accomplish and reach the company’s goal. According to Patel (2017), a strong manager or leader must reach and develop eleven traits...

• Mother Teresa

Investigating the Losses and Leadership Positions in Starbucks

The Starbucks brand started in 1971 by opening its to begin with store area in Seattle, Washington. Within the 1970s and 1980s, Starbucks Corporation experienced victory within the U.S. market. By 1987, Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks after serving for 5 years within the operation division...

The Humor Style Suitable for Leadership Positions

Throughout this report, the main topic in focus will be the Leader Humor Style. The definition of humor is not straightforward, “Over the years, researchers have been trying to arrive at one definition of humour which is both comprehensive and universal. All their efforts have...

The Results Of My S.M.A.R.T. Leadership Experience

Leadership, S.M.A.R.T. goals, and the Seven Habits profile are all interconnected in many ways. Throughout the course of this paper I will address the results of my Seven Habits profile, servant leadership, and make S.M.A.R.T. goals. They will assist me in becoming a better leader...

• Emotional Intelligence

The Definition of Leadership: Barack Obama's Presidency

Leadership can mean various things a success, power, efficiency, andintelligence. Among other qualities. However, leadership is taken into accountwhen the leader or the person who is the heads of a movement has the abilityto influence others and make a positive impact on the world around...

Leadership Is My Strong Side

Mustering the courage, penetrating the challenge, and engendering the creativity are the abilities to define myself as a visionary leader. After the head of Corporate Social Responsibility of PT Pertamina Region VII awarded me as the best presenter in Pertamina Technology Challenge, an opportunity as...

• About Myself

The Importance of Good Ethics and Leadership in Society

One of the most important, yet least understood phenomena on earth is leadership. The research was done to investigate leadership traits, activities, behaviour, and processes; yet, until Burns (1978), a few researchers were able to distinguish between leadership that is "transactional" and leadership that is...

• Human Behavior

Change Management in Organizations Dependency on Leadership

This paper seeks to establish how change can be effectively introduced to the challenging global business environment of today. However, to establish this, one has to first understand what a change management strategy is and to critically analyze the key composition of an ideal change...

• Change Management

Analysis Of Individual Aspects Of Leadership

The first factor for business success is empowering leadership. Leadership has taken companies to its peak of success. This report will look into the leadership style of Sandberg in the different companies she had worked. How her leadership skills influenced and impacted the people she...

Application Of Engineering Leadership To Improve Group's Performance

This case occurred during a practical lab session where my group and I were tasked with a graded lab report based on that session’s experiment. That week’s experimental procedure was knowledge-intensive and rigorous, requiring a good understanding of that week’s lecture content while involving many...

• Engineering

Best Way For Society To Prepare It's Youth For Leadership

The provided memo brings a lot of questions to mind. These need to properly addressed before jumping to the conclusion that increasing the advertising budget will help increase the attendance of people in movies produced by Super Screen Movie Production Company. Firstly, the memo talks...

• Modern Society

Classic Leadership And Organization Dilemmas

The main challenge of any organization is to perform tasks in the right time. If they cannot perform it within the prescribed time, their ongoing work can be interrupted. Therefore, if the job is to be executed at a given time, it is necessary to...

• Organizational Behavior

Jim Davis Case Study Analysis: The Problem Of Leadership And Power

Leadership and power have a fine line in which they were most effectively together. In that relationship it is important that a good sense of credibility is established in order to achieve and maintain a status. The problem at hand is how Jim is going...

Leadership – The Art Of Managing People

The capacity to sort out a gathering of individuals or an organization is called leadership. The individual who directs the gathering is characterized as a Leader. Despite the fact that the bigger fault and less credit come to them, a pioneer is the foundation of...

Leadership And Management In International Hospitality Business

Introduction Leadership includes giving the data, information, and techniques to understand that vision, and organizing and adjusting the clashing interests of all individuals and partners. Be that as it may, the initiative has changed after some time and has made numerous difficulties for the individuals...

• Hospitality
• Marketing Management

Leadership In Different Aspects Of Life

Introduction Leadership is defined to be the action of leading a group of people or an organization. In the coaching profession, coaches lead their teams. If you were to ask me what my personal definition and general philosophy of leadership is, I would say, “Leadership...

• Personal Life

The Challenges in the Leadership School: Stepping out of the Comfort Zone

I applied to leadership school and I was told it was going to easy but boy was I wrong. As soon we got on the bus things turned for worse. First, all phones were confiscated as we got on the bus then we to be...

Leadership Style And Influence Of Two Historical Figure

This is an extensive study of leadership styles and scope of influence of 2 historical figures of Nepal. “Siddhartha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) and Prithivi Narayan Shah. They can be seen as an effective and influential leader known to whole world. I found difference in their...

Leadership Theories And Personal Evaluation

Trait Theory Of the eight trait theories presented in the textbook I feel that I possess predominantly the desire to lead, honesty, integrity and emotional intelligence. In most jobs that I have been employed, I often find myself thinking of ways that the manager could...

Psychology Of Work: Organizational Leadership Theories

In lieu of the changing business environments globally, companies strive to be competent enough to be able to respond to customer expectations, have sound and healthy relationships with all the stakeholders, have operations that are transparent and accountable and increase their bottom line fulfilling their...

• Social Psychology

Revitalization Through New Leadership For Success In Any Field

The topic presented here makes a very valid argument that revitalization through new leadership is crucial for success in any field, be it politics, education or government. I am in concord with the claim that those in power should graciously make way at regular intervals...

An Overview of the Five Levels of Leadership

Nowadays the word ¨leadership¨ is used in all spheres of society, from the political field to the business and religious fields. One of the modern precursors of the study of leadership is John C. Maxwell, who for years has used and taught an instrument of...

The Social Influence Of Leadership On Human

For many years, many people (scholars) have had lot of interest in leadership, there have been many debates and some occasional confusion explaining the concept of leadership or what it really means. (Bass 1981) (Northouse, P 2016) Even now, defining it is not as easy...

Value Proposition Of Investing In It Leadership

Companies that invests in IT leadership perform much better than the companies that don’t. IT Leadership development is very important for creating competition and having an upper hand over other companies. A standout amongst the most important internal features to implement change is IT Leadership...

Essay About What Leadership Means To Me

For me, leadership means not only pursue success for myself but also to motivate and empower others to do the same by setting the perfect example to follow. For me, leadership means knowing where to go, leading the right path, taking new challenges and not...

Best topics on Leadership

1. What Type of Leader I Am: Examining My Leadership

2. How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

3. How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

4. Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

5. Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

6. Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

7. Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

8. My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

9. What Is Leadership For You

10. Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

11. The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

12. The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

13. Chelladurai’s Model Of The Leadership

14. Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

15. Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Leadership — The Importance Of Leadership

The Importance of Leadership

• Categories: Empowerment Leadership Vision

About this sample

Words: 777 |

Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 777 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Leadership as a set of skills and qualities, the ability to create a vision and set goals, empowering and developing others, driving innovation and change, leadership in everyday life, in conclusion.

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Essay on Leadership: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Oct 7, 2023

The concept of leadership has been known to us since ancient times, from Ashoka: The Great to modern-day democratic leaders. Whether it’s politics or business, sports or entertainment, leadership is an essential part of human society, Leadership is the art of inspiring and guiding people towards a common goal. 

Critics might argue that being a leader is just about holding a prestigious position and living a fancy life. That might be 1 in 1000 cases, as leaders across the globe work for the welfare and development of their people and country. Below we have discussed some essays on leadership where the multifaceted roles of this position are highlighted. 

This Blog Includes:

Essay on leadership in 100 words, essay on leadership in 200 words, essay on leadership in 300 words.

Also Read – Essay on Summer Vacation

Leadership involves a set of qualities, values and actions, which are focused on the benefit of people and their country. A person holding the position of a leader plays a pivotal role in every facet of life, influencing the direction and success of organizations, communities, and nations. To become a leader, one must have a clear vision to understand a future state that is better than the present and communicate that vision to their team or followers.

A leader’s actions should be aligned with their words, and they must demonstrate their honesty, transparency and ethical behaviour. Trust is the foundation for any successful leadership, and it is built through consistent ethical conduct. 

Leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept and is an essential part of developing a society or organisation. Leadership can involve various positions and types, from democratic to autocratic, where the leaders inspire and empower their teams, fostering an environment where individuals can thrive and achieve their fullest potential.

Effective leadership involves skilled communicators to can convey ideas, expectations, and feedback clearly and persuasively. They also listen actively to their team’s input and concerns. A great leader empowers a team of professionals by entrusting them with responsibilities and decision-making authority. With the formation of delegates, the power of leadership is divided among different authorities who are responsible for fostering growth and development among team members, making the organization more robust.

Some of the fundamentals of leadership are authenticity, integrity, ethical behaviour, a clear vision and other vital traits. Trust is the bedrock of leadership, and it is built through honesty, transparency, and consistency in actions and decisions. A leader who understands and cares about the needs and concerns of their team fosters strong relationships, promoting collaboration and cohesion.

At last, leadership is more than a title; it’s the embodiment of vision, integrity, empathy, communication and resilience. Effective leaders work to bring positive changes, inspire people around them and create a sense of purpose and direction in their terms and organizations.

Also Read – Essay on Cricket

Leadership is a vital concept for the welfare of a society, community or country, depending on what the leadership is about. A leader transcends boundaries and is fundamental to human endeavours in various domains. Their job involves the ability to influence and guide a group of individuals toward achieving a common objective. Effective leadership is characterized by a combination of qualities, skills, and behaviours that inspire, motivate, and empower a team.

The first and most important aspect of a successful leader is having a clear vision. A clear vision works as a guiding light, outlining the desired future and providing a sense of purpose and direction for the team. Leaders with a compelling vision can inspire and rally their followers, creating a shared sense of purpose. 

The other cornerstone of leadership is integrity. Leaders must demonstrate honesty, transparency, and ethical behaviour. Trust, which is essential in any team or organization, is built on the foundation of integrity. When people believe that their leader acts with integrity, they are more likely to follow willingly and commit to the cause. 

Another trait that is essential for effective leadership is empathy. Leaders with empathy understand and connect with the emotions, needs, and perspectives of their team members. By showing compassion and actively listening, they create a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters trust and collaboration.

Apart from these traits, other important qualities for effective leadership include effective communication and interpersonal skills. A leader must be able to articulate their vision, goals, and expectations clearly and persuasively. 

In conclusion, leadership is a multifaceted concept that plays a pivotal role towards the positive growth and development of organizations, communities, and societies. Effective leaders inspire their teams, create a sense of purpose, and drive positive change. Leadership is not merely a position; it is a journey of personal growth and a commitment to serving the greater good.

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Some of the synonyms for a leader are: Coach, Captain, Principal, Chairman, Kingpin, Boss, CEO, etc.

What makes a good leader is their ability to persuade people using their effective communication skills, having a clear vision working towards the welfare of society, and taking responsibility for their actions.

Writing an essay on leadership in 200 words must include the fundamental aspects of leadership and the qualities they must possess. Effective leaders around the world create a supportive and inclusive environment where people can thrive and contribute their best efforts. They inspire a shared sense of purpose, foster collaboration, and guide their teams toward achieving collective goals.

For more information about such informative articles, visit our essay writing page and make sure to follow Leverage Edu .

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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• v.83(9); 2019 Nov

A Systematic Review of Leadership Definitions, Competencies, and Assessment Methods in Pharmacy Education

Brent n. reed.

a University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, Maryland

Abigail M. Klutts

T. joseph mattingly, ii.

b Editorial Board Member, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education , Arlington, Virginia

Objective. To characterize leadership definitions, competencies, and assessment methods used in pharmacy education, based on a systematic review of the literature.

Findings. After undergoing title, abstract, and full-text review, 44 (10%) of 441 articles identified in the initial search were included in this report. Leadership or an aspect of leadership was defined in 37 (84%) articles, and specific leadership competencies were listed or described in 40 (91%) articles. The most common definitions of leadership involved motivating others toward the achievement of a specific goal and leading organizational change. Definitions of leadership in some articles required that individuals hold a formal leadership position whereas others did not. Only two leadership competencies were related to specific areas of knowledge. Most of the competencies identified were interpersonal and self-management skills. In terms of assessment, only one (2.3%) article assessed leadership effectiveness, and none assessed leadership development. Of the remaining 24 (55%) articles that included some type of assessment, most involved behavioral-based tools assessing individual attributes conceptually related to leadership (eg, strengths, emotional intelligence), or self-assessments regarding whether learning objectives in a leadership course had been met.

Summary. Definitions for leadership in pharmacy varied considerably, as did leadership competencies. Most conceptualizations of leadership resembled a combination of established approaches rather than being grounded in a specific theory. If leadership development is to remain a focus within accreditation standards for Doctor of Pharmacy education, a consistent framework for operationalizing it is needed.

INTRODUCTION

Leadership is a highly desired attribute among pharmacists, and some have suggested it should be considered a professional obligation. 1 Recognizing its importance among Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) graduates, leadership is listed as a key element in Standard 4 of the 2016 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) standards (“Standards 2016”). 2 Specifically, Standard 4.2 requires that graduates be “able to demonstrate responsibility for creating and achieving shared goals, regardless of position.” Although examples of co-curricular experiences intended to support Standard 4 are provided in the accompanying ACPE accreditation guidance document, no recommendations exist for how to operationalize leadership development, including how to define, measure, or assess it. 3

A cursory review of the literature suggests that definitions of leadership in pharmacy vary considerably, as do expectations regarding the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics to be demonstrated by pharmacy leaders. Additionally, no consensus exists regarding how leadership should be measured and assessed, adding significant ambiguity to how schools of pharmacy should be evaluated on their ability to meet Standard 4.2. In fact, based on some conceptualizations of leadership, such as the trait-based approach (eg, leadership as a reflection of individual traits such as cognitive ability and motivation), 4 schools could argue that students with such attributes are sought out during the admissions process and no further efforts to develop leadership are necessary. Expectedly, the extent to which leadership has become integrated into the PharmD curriculum varies. Indeed, many of the reports in the literature have consisted of extracurricular strategies (eg, involvement in professional organizations, medical mission trips) or elective didactic experiences, suggesting that leadership development may still be mostly limited to those students who already demonstrate a proclivity for leadership. 5–9

Recent efforts have been made to advance our understanding of leadership in pharmacy via use of the Delphi method. 10,11 The Delphi method consists of a series of structured surveys or interviews in which a panel of subject matter experts is guided to consensus by an external mediator. A 26-member Delphi approach was used to identify a set of guiding principles and associated competencies for student leadership development. 10,11 Members of the panel were leadership instructors selected on the basis of attending sessions on leadership development at American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) meetings, membership in the investigators’ professional network, and the results of a query of the AACP member database. Participants were guided through three rounds of surveys, resulting in the identification of 12 guiding principles and 11 competencies (four related to knowledge, two related to personal leadership commitments, and five related to leadership skills). 10,11 A major advantage of the Delphi method is that it encourages dialogue in a confidential and blinded fashion so that the discussion is not dominated by one or more voices. 12 However, disadvantages include a lack of standardization (eg, size and composition of the panel, process for selecting panel members) and concerns regarding its validity and reliability. 13

The purpose of our research was to complement existing efforts to conceptualize leadership in pharmacy by performing a systematic review of the literature. The primary advantage of this approach is that the totality of scholarship on a topic can be reviewed and evaluated in a systematic way, including perspectives that may be underrepresented in an expert panel. Another advantage is that a systematic review can characterize changes in a construct over time, 14 which may be particularly important given the evolution of leadership theories over the last century. 15

Using this structured approach, we hoped to accomplish three aims. Our first aim was to compare definitions for pharmacy leadership, including whether they differed from established leadership theories. The second was to characterize the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (ie, competencies) expected of pharmacy leaders, which is essential to the development of instructional strategies. Although use of the term competency in reference to leadership remains controversial in personnel psychology because of the lack of a consensus definition, 16 we selected it to be consistent with Standards 2016 and prior research in pharmacy education. 10 Finally, we hoped to identify instruments for assessing leadership effectiveness or development, which could be used by schools of pharmacy to evaluate their leadership development efforts. For this latter purpose, we did not differentiate between assessments of leadership effectiveness vs emergence , terms which refer to an individual’s effects on group performance vs his or her ability to rise to the top in an organization, respectively. 17

A literature search was conducted using PubMed and SCOPUS to find English-language articles containing the terms “pharmacy,” “student,” and “leadership.” Two of the authors completed title and abstract reviews, and a third author served as tie-breaker for each round. We determined a priori that agreement of <80% during any phase would prompt clarification of review criteria and the process would be repeated. Interrater agreement for the title and abstract screens was calculated using Cohen’s kappa. All three team members participated in the full-text screen, and exclusion of any additional articles required group consensus.

Articles were included in the title screen if any reference was made to “leadership” and “pharmacy” in the title of the article or the journal in which it was published (eg, an article having been published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education would satisfy the “pharmacy” criterion; thus, the title only needed to refer to “leadership” for the article to be included in the study). During the abstract screen, articles were included if they referred to “education” or “training” and at least one of the following pertaining to leadership: definitions, competencies, or assessments. Any articles without an abstract were forced into the full-text screen.

During the full-text screen, an article was excluded if it did not provide a definition or conceptualization of leadership, or if upon more detailed analysis, the article did not relate to education or training. The constructs of interest for this study (ie, definitions, competencies, and assessment methods) were also collected during the full-text screen. Given a paucity of methods for assessing leadership effectiveness or development in the full-text screen, data collection was expanded to include any assessments related to leadership, including self-reported leadership perceptions and domains conceptually related to leadership (eg, emotional intelligence).

Following data collection, leadership definitions, competencies, and assessment methods were categorized according to construct similarity based on group consensus (eg, “embracing adversity” and “taking on challenges” were considered similar and thus were grouped together as “perseverance”). Leadership assessment methods were further analyzed to determine whether validated instruments were used.

Five hundred thirty-one abstracts were identified in the initial search. Of these, 90 duplicates were removed, leaving 441 abstracts for the title screen. During this phase, the screening authors agreed on 419 of 441 titles (95.0% agreement, κ=0.80, p <.001), and the remaining 22 titles were reconciled by the third author. Three hundred seventy-six articles were deemed irrelevant to the study during the title screen, leaving 65 articles for the abstract screen. Agreement by the screening authors was achieved on 55 of 65 abstracts (84.6% agreement, κ=0.49, p <.001), and after reconciliation by the third author, an additional 12 abstracts were excluded. Of the remaining 53 articles that underwent a full-text screen, nine were excluded based on group consensus, leaving 44 articles for data extraction and analysis. These included 15 descriptions of a leadership course or program, 10 surveys, nine commentaries, three Delphi panels, three qualitative studies, three multimethod studies, and a single literature review. Many of the descriptive studies incorporated surveys (eg, pre- and post-course evaluations), but assessments of leadership perceptions or effectiveness were not their primary focus. A summary of the search strategy using the PRISMA framework is depicted in Figure 1 . 18

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement Flow Diagram for Search Methods

Eight definitions of leadership were extracted during the analysis ( Table 1 ). The most common definition involved influencing, motivating, enabling, or empowering others, often to achieve a specific goal (11 articles). Two other definitions were commonly cited: the leader as an agent of change (nine articles) and the leader as an individual who receives external recognition for leadership, eg, serving in a formal position, receiving an award (nine articles). Some articles defined leadership in terms of the position held (eg, president), 19,20 whereas others indicated that any position was sufficient, including involvement on a committee or task force. Demonstrating leadership without a formal title or position was the fourth most common definition (six articles); “big l” versus “little l” leadership was a common framework used to distinguish between individuals with formal leadership roles and those who lead informally. 6,21 Less commonly identified definitions are provided in Table 1 .

Terms Used in Published, Peer-Reviewed Articles to Define Leaders or Leadership in Pharmacy a

Sixteen leadership competencies were extracted from the literature ( Table 2 ). We classified each competency as an area of knowledge, skill or ability, or other characteristic, based on the framework commonly used in personnel psychology and in accordance with prior leadership research. 22,23 Knowledge refers to technical expertise whereas skills and abilities refer to the capacity to perform tasks. Other characteristics include motivations, attitudes, values, interests, and personality traits. 23

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics of Pharmacy Leaders Identified Through a Review of Published, Peer-Reviewed Papers

Knowledge of leadership characteristics (including distinctions between leadership and management) and knowledge of the pharmacy profession were the only two areas of technical expertise identified in our analysis. Of the 10 skills and abilities identified, the most common was self-regulation (26 references), or the ability to monitor, reflect upon, and adapt one’s attitudes and behaviors in response to demands ( Figure 2 ). Persuasion, or the ability to influence the thoughts and/or behaviors of others, and strategic planning, an ability to articulate a vision and develop and/or support strategies for accomplishing it, were also common (19 and 17 references, respectively).

Bar Chart Depicting the Frequency of Pharmacy Leadership Competencies as Described in the Literature and Included in This Analysis

Four other characteristics were extracted from the literature. Team and service orientations were mentioned in similar frequencies (nine and eight references, respectively), and a learning orientation was found in four references. An ethical orientation, or the tendency to act in accordance with a set of moral and/or ethical standards, was found in only one reference.

Leadership Assessments.

As described previously, we expanded our criteria to include any instruments related to leadership, including self-reported leadership perceptions and assessments of conceptually related domains. We identified nine such methods, four of which (44%) were validated by prior research ( Table 3 ). The most frequently used method was students’ self-reported achievement of learning objectives for a leadership course or program (nine references). Another common method (six references) was CliftonStrengths (formerly known as StrengthsFinder or StrengthsQuest, Gallup; Washington, DC), a validated instrument for identifying themes of talent upon which leadership and other skills can be built. 24 Most references evaluated leadership perceptions rather than competencies. Only one study evaluated leadership effectiveness; however, because of its cross-sectional design, leadership development (ie, a change in effectiveness over time) was not ascertained. 25

Methods for Assessing Leadership in Published, Peer-Reviewed Articles

Despite a growing emphasis on leadership development in pharmacy, the results of this systematic review indicate that little consensus has been achieved on the definition of leadership in the profession. A similar lack of agreement was observed with regard to leadership competencies, providing little guidance to schools of pharmacy on how leaders should be developed. Not surprisingly, few validated instruments have been identified to measure leadership among pharmacy professionals. The implications of each of these findings and the challenges they pose for operationalizing leadership development in pharmacy education are discussed in further detail below.

The most common conceptualization of leadership revealed in this analysis was an individual who influences or motivates others, often in the achievement of a specific goal. However, this definition was still only used in a quarter of articles, suggesting that considerable disagreement exists. Perhaps the most notable discrepancy in our findings was the use of formal titles or positions to define leadership (seven of the nine references in which leadership was defined by external recognition), and the assertion in others (six articles) that a formal title or position was not necessary for leadership. Given that the remaining definitions of leadership involved performing specific tasks, defining leadership as the attainment of a title or position (or using it as an inclusion criterion for a study) likely restricts the range of competencies that can be captured. Indeed, with perhaps the exception of personnel management, none of the attributes we identified would require that an individual hold a position of leadership, which is consistent with at least one aspect of Standard 4.2.

One of our aims was to compare conceptualizations of leadership in pharmacy to established leadership theories. With the exception of definitions that involved medication use and patient care (6.8% of articles analyzed), most resembled a blend of existing leadership frameworks but few were grounded in a specific theory. Many of the conceptualizations most closely resembled transformational leadership, which is characterized by understanding followers’ motivations and empowering them to achieve an aspirational goal. 26 Transformational leadership is one of the most popular contemporary approaches to leadership, likely because of its characterization of leadership as a process, its emphasis on leader-follower relationships, and its association with positive work-related outcomes for both individuals (eg, job attitudes) and organizations (eg, performance). 15,26,27 We did not find any specific references to the four-factor model of transformational leadership originally articulated by Bass and Avolio (ie, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration), but other transformational approaches were evident in the reports we reviewed, such as the practices of exemplary leadership proposed by Kouzes and Posner. 26,28

Although charisma (often used interchangeably with “idealized influence”) is considered a fundamental feature of transformational leadership, it was not mentioned in any of the articles we analyzed. This finding was consistent with an overall lack of focus on the role that individual traits (eg, personality, cognitive ability) can play in leadership effectiveness, a point we discuss in further detail later in the manuscript. The need for charisma is one of the most commonly cited drawbacks of the transformational approach, as it implies that leadership is less accessible to individuals who lack it. 26 Defining leadership according to the transformational approach also presents a challenge to the idea of leadership as a professional obligation, which may also explain the absence of a focus on charisma (among other traits) in the articles we reviewed in this analysis.

Transformational leadership may also be partially reflected in definitions that referred to serving as an agent of change, a term popularized in John Kotter’s book on business leadership, Leading Change. 29 Kotter’s eight-step process for leading change borrows from a variety of established leadership and motivational theories, including leader-member exchange (“build the guiding coalition”) and goal theory (“generate short-term wins”). Although Kotter’s change framework was originally applied to business leadership, it has since been used in a variety of organizations, likely because of its greater practicality compared to some of the leadership theories upon which it is based. The latter may also explain the relatively high number of references to change leadership in our analysis.

Other established models of leadership observed in our analysis included servant leadership and authentic leadership. Service was mentioned in only four articles (9.1%), but this may reflect an expectation that all pharmacy professionals, and not just leaders, heed a call to service (as reflected in the Oath of a Pharmacist ). Consequently, service may not be an appropriate metric of leadership in pharmacy, especially as quantifying acts of service (eg, number of health fairs attended) may not reflect underlying constructs of interest (eg, altruism). Leading by example was mentioned in two articles and represents an important component of authentic leadership in which leaders connect with their followers through mutual trust. 15

As we alluded to previously, an aspect of leadership that was notably absent in our analysis was the role of individual traits and, in particular, personality. Early trait-based approaches to leadership were largely abandoned in favor of situational and contextual models but have gained renewed interest as our taxonomical understanding of personality has improved. 15,30 Based on the five-factor model of personality, meta-analytic research has suggested at least a moderate correlation between personality and leadership ( r =0.48), with extraversion being the trait that best predicts leadership emergence and effectiveness across studies. 30 These findings have important implications for the operationalization of leadership development in pharmacy, and they raise questions as to whether leadership should be considered a professional obligation of all graduates. Instead, there may be specific competencies (which are often but not exclusively attributed to leaders) that should serve as targets of development efforts at schools of pharmacy.

In terms of the competencies identified in this analysis, only two were specific areas of knowledge: knowledge of leadership characteristics and of the pharmacy profession (eg, history, societal mission). Knowledge of leadership characteristics was also identified as a competency in prior work and was defined as being able to describe the skills, behaviors, and styles of effective leaders. 10 However, given the varying and sometimes discrepant conceptualizations of leadership (including those identified in our own analysis), it is unclear how learners should be held accountable for this. An alternative approach could be to encourage students to critically appraise various leadership frameworks and examine the evidence (or lack thereof) connecting certain attributes to leadership effectiveness, and how these are influenced by factors such as culture (eg, Eastern vs Western perspectives) and organizational context. For instructors interested in such a strategy, a set of guiding principles was recently published. 31

Although knowledge of the pharmacy profession was also identified as a key area of expertise, little additional detail was typically provided. Indeed, the relationship between an interest in pharmacy history and leadership was the subject of only one cross-sectional survey. 32 Conversely, most leadership frameworks place a focus on understanding organizational culture, 15 and perhaps leaders in pharmacy must understand both their own organization as well as the profession in which it operates.

Most of the competencies (62.5%) we identified were skills and abilities, which we believe adds considerable value to the literature on leadership in pharmacy. Only a handful of skills have been identified in prior research, and some of these may be challenging to teach and assess in the earlier parts of the pharmacy curriculum. 10,11 For example, “collaborate with others” is an important competency to expect of pharmacy graduates, but it requires that learners demonstrate an array of fundamental interpersonal skills, including social insight, relationship-building, and communication. Consequently, we believe that the additional specificity provided in this analysis complements existing work by identifying areas that could serve as targets of further instruction.

In terms of interpersonal skills, social insight was most commonly referred to as emotional intelligence, and several instruments were used to measure this skill. 33–35 Although Standards 2016 allude to social and emotional learning (SEL) (eg, self-awareness), the emphasis placed on higher-order constructs such as professionalism, patient advocacy, and cultural sensitivity implies that students are expected to have already developed many foundational SEL skills (eg, self-efficacy, empathy, appreciation for diversity) prior to enrolling in pharmacy school. However, exposure to SEL training varies considerably in primary and secondary educational settings despite evidence that it improves problem-solving and decision-making skills, and increases prosocial behavior. 36 Variability in the development of SEL skills may therefore explain why social insight was seen as a distinguishing feature of leaders and may represent a potential target for training.

Relationship-building was often mentioned in the context of professional networking, but an emphasis was placed on both the quantity and quality of relationships, and how the latter helps leaders achieve organizational goals. The fact that strong communication skills were seen as a distinguishing feature of leaders was unsurprising, but these were not restricted to a specific medium. Indeed, leaders were seen as individuals who demonstrated skill in both speaking and written communications.

Two specific types of communication identified in our analysis were persuasion and negotiation, a finding consistent with transformational approaches to leadership. Although the two are conceptually related, negotiation typically involves compromise solutions that may benefit and harm all parties involved. Given the growing emphasis on shared decision-making among the members of interprofessional teams and between teams and patients, negotiating skills may represent an area from which all trainees could benefit. Coursework in communication has been shown to improve negotiating skills and shared decision-making in other health disciplines, and could represent an area of opportunity in pharmacy education. 37

In addition to an emphasis on interpersonal relationships, another common theme to emerge from our analysis was self-management, reflected in the competencies of self-regulation, perseverance, and decision-making. In particular, self-regulation skills were alluded to in 26 references (59.1%). Self-awareness is a key element of Standard 4, and reflective learning has been posited as a strategy for promoting personal and professional growth. 2,3 Similar to the ambiguity encountered in clinical practice, reflective learning may also help leaders deal with the uncertainties of organizational leadership. 38

Reflective learning has also been posited as a strategy for building perseverance (sometimes referred to as resilience or “grit”), which was another competency identified in our analysis. We categorized perseverance as an ability rather than a trait based on research suggesting that it can be developed over time. 39 Importantly, most of the research supporting this assertion is derived from children and adolescents, and studies in pharmacy education have failed to show a consistent relationship with academic performance. 39 Conversely, these findings could also reflect a ceiling effect caused by the many barriers to professional school that may eliminate individuals with lower levels of perseverance. To our knowledge, no studies have compared the relative level of resilience or grit among student pharmacists to the general population, and studies in other health disciplines have yielded mixed results. 40-42 It is therefore unclear whether opportunities exist to further improve this attribute among pharmacy trainees. A more detailed discussion of resiliency and grit among health professional students has been published previously within the Journal . 39

Decision-making reflects skills in both critical thinking and judgement, and a clear distinction between these two attributes was not apparent in the literature we analyzed. Formal strategies such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses may assist students in learning how to identify key considerations when making decisions. Because few decisions facing leaders (or clinicians) are zero-sum, emphasis should also be placed on helping students deal with uncertainty and managing the consequences (both beneficial and adverse) of their decisions. Such strategies would also assist students in developing strategic planning skills, which was also a common theme in our analysis. Although efforts to grow strategic planning skills were usually limited to envisioning exercises, combining these with training in decision-making may help students understand how ideas can be translated into actionable initiatives.

Finally, only one of the competencies in our analysis resembled an attribute mostly associated with positional leadership, which we broadly labeled as personnel management. We used this label to refer to one’s ability to align individuals with the roles for which they are best suited based on an assessment of their attributes (eg, strengths and weaknesses). Although the power to make this type of decision is usually limited to positional leaders, aligning team members with the roles to which they are best suited could also be accomplished by informal leaders. Doing so would require several of the skills mentioned previously (eg, social insight).

The lack of assessments for gauging leadership is one of the most important findings of this research, and it has important implications for schools of pharmacy given the emphasis on leadership in Standards 2016. If students are expected to demonstrate leadership upon graduation and few instruments exist for measuring it, how programs can be held accountable for meeting Standard 4 is unclear.

A lack of leadership instruments may reflect ambiguity in leadership definitions and the competencies that should be expected of pharmacy leaders. Because many of the conceptualizations of leadership in pharmacy already resemble established paradigms and few competencies were unique to pharmacy, time may be better spent adapting existing tools. Similar efforts have been successful with other affective domains, such as the adaptation of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy for use with student pharmacists. 43 Conversely, if a pharmacy-centric instrument is desired, a collection of best practices for developing valid and reliable assessments of leadership has been published. 44

Importantly, efforts to identify instruments for assessing leadership should clarify whether the intent is to measure leadership emergence or effectiveness. Leadership emergence measures the ability for an individual to rise to the top of an organization but does not necessarily correlate with leadership effectiveness (ie, the leader’s impact on organizational performance). Moreover, although emergence can be shaped by many of the competencies identified in this analysis, it is also subject to influence by organizational politics and reputation management rather than leadership skill. 30 Conversely, leadership effectiveness is more challenging to assess, as fewer opportunities exist to measure it given the relatively brief duration of pharmacy school and limited opportunities to serve in a leadership capacity.

We identified a number of gaps and opportunities for future research ( Table 4 ). Several gaps have been discussed in detail above, such as the use of leadership self-perceptions as a surrogate for leader effectiveness and the assessment of individual domains rather than leadership as a whole. The remaining gaps identified in this analysis were methodological in nature. Most of the references we analyzed were descriptions of leadership development programs, but formal analyses of performance were not conducted. Nine studies involved observational or correlational analyses, a methodological limitation common to leadership research in other areas. 15,30 For studies that assessed a specific aspect of leadership, many did not use a validated instrument, or authors did not describe the validity of the instrument used. Finally, many references were editorials or commentaries on leadership; we hope the gaps identified in this analysis will serve as an impetus for more original research to answer these important questions.

Gaps Identified in the Literature Regarding Leadership in Pharmacy and Opportunities for Future Research

Recommendations.

As illustrated in this systematic review of the literature, leadership is a complex, multidimensional construct representing a diverse set of underlying competencies that differ considerably based on the approach selected. Because these competencies vary and leadership is at least in part determined by personality and other traits (eg, charisma, extraversion), it may not be reasonable or fair to suggest that leadership be a professional obligation of all pharmacists. Furthermore, the dearth of evidence demonstrating that leadership can be developed at schools of pharmacy suggests it may also be an unreasonable accreditation standard. Consequently, we recommend that ACPE revisit its use in future versions of the standards. If leadership is to remain an expectation of all pharmacy graduates, additional guidance should be provided regarding the desired framework, as the current description (“creating and achieving shared goals”) only captures a fraction of the competencies identified in this and prior analyses. Based on the current guidance, simply being an effective team member may be a sufficient standard for all graduates to meet.

Several of our recommendations for the Academy relate to leadership research. First, because few of the competencies identified in this analysis seemed specific to pharmacy, future research should be grounded in established leadership theory. Most articles derived leadership definitions and other variables from a variety of models, making it difficult to discern whether improvements in specific skills or behaviors can be theoretically associated with the individual or organizational outcomes observed in prior leadership research. Second, future research should involve the assessment of leadership effectiveness (eg, follower perceptions, impact on organizational performance) and development (ie, changes in effectiveness over time such as before and after an intervention). Third, validated instruments should be used whenever available, or validation research should be performed prior to the use of any newly developed instruments.

A final consideration for the Academy is the role that teams, particularly interprofessional teams, should play in trainees’ conceptualizations of leadership. Leadership is often taught in the context of vertical power dynamics but a growing emphasis on team-based work has contributed to a flattening of organizational structures across industries, and health care is no exception. 15 Conversely, despite the assertion by a number of organizations that leadership of the interprofessional health care team should not be limited to physicians, 45,46 traditional hierarchies remain the norm at many institutions. Consequently, trainees of all health disciplines may be better served by learning about leadership in an interprofessional context rather than the vestigial hierarchies of the past.

The primary methodologic strength of this study is that the authors attempted to extract all relevant literature on leadership in pharmacy rather than approach the research question with a preconceived leadership framework. We believe this permitted us to capture a greater diversity of leadership definitions, competencies, and assessment strategies. Other methodologic strengths included the use of multiple screeners, blinded reviews and ratings at each stage of the process, and a high threshold of agreement for study inclusion. Although one of the advantages of a systematic review is to identify changes over time, such a change was not clearly discernible in our research. We attribute this to the fact that 90% of articles were published in the last decade. Several attempts have been made to achieve consensus on leadership and related competencies during this period; thus, an important follow-up to this research would be to determine whether this resulted in coalescence in the literature.

Several limitations warrant further discussion. First, our focus on pharmacy-specific literature was intentional but may have excluded valuable publications in other health professions that could inform the design of instructional strategies in pharmacy education. Second, we did not exclude commentaries, descriptions of leadership courses or programs, or committee reports, which may have led to an overrepresentation of opinions rather than the results of rigorous investigation. We attempted to adjust for this by restricting our analysis to peer-reviewed manuscripts to ensure that commentary was at least evaluated by a journal editor and/or independent reviewer. A third limitation was that we grouped items into domains using a grounded theory approach in which text within the analyzed publications served as the basis for each category. All three authors reviewed and reached full agreement on the final themes; however, another set of researchers may have generated slightly different categories. Fourth, we considered an assessment method or instrument to be validated based on whether it had been tested or validated in any population rather than specifically among student pharmacists. This more lenient definition of validity may lead to misclassification bias, as the instruments we considered to be valid may not have been tested in a sample representative of the target population. A final limitation of our research is that we reported the frequency with which each construct was mentioned, ie, the number of publications in which it was found. Having done so may lead readers to the misinterpretation that more frequently mentioned definitions or competences are more important than those receiving less attention in the literature. This is further compounded by the fact that some individuals contributed to multiple publications and, in at least one instance, multiple publications originated from the same scholarly effort. 10,11 Consequently, we caution the reader against making judgements regarding relative value, as we chose this straightforward, descriptive approach to limit the subjective determinations of the research team.

Despite an emphasis on leadership in Standards 2016, considerable ambiguity exists regarding the conceptualizations of leadership in pharmacy and the competencies that should be expected of pharmacists upon graduation. Furthermore, the lack of instruments for measuring and assessing leadership make it unclear how schools of pharmacy should operationalize leadership development and thus be held accountable for meeting Standard 4.2. Altogether, these findings suggest that leadership, as currently described in Standards 2016, should be critically re-evaluated by ACPE when determining the next set of standards. Fortunately, should leadership remain an area of emphasis in the future, many conceptualizations of the construct in the pharmacy literature resemble established paradigms, suggesting that existing tools and instructional strategies could be adapted for use in pharmacy education. Studies to evaluate these strategies should serve as the subject of future research.

Leadership Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on leadership.

First of all, Leadership refers to the quality of leading people. Probably, it is one of the most important aspects of life. Above all, Leadership has led to the progress of human civilization . Without good Leadership, no organization or group can succeed. Furthermore, not everyone has this quality. This is because effective Leadership requires certain important characteristics.

Qualities of a Good Leader

First of all, confidence is the most quality. A leader must have strong self-confidence. A person lacking in confidence can never be a good leader. A person must be confident enough to ensure others follow him. The leader must have confidence in his decisions and actions. If he is unsure, then how can people have the desire to follow him.

A good leader must certainly inspire others. A leader must be a role model for his followers. Furthermore, he must motivate them whenever possible. Also, in difficult situations, a leader must not lose hope. How can a leader inspire people if he himself is hopeless?

Honesty is another notable quality of a leader. Honesty and Integrity are important to earn the love of followers. Above all, honesty is essential to win the trust of the people. Probably, every Leadership which loses trust is bound to fail. People will not work with full effort due to an immoral leader.

Good communication is a must for a good leader. This is because poor communication means the wrong message to followers. Furthermore, good communication will increase the rate of work. Also, the chances of mistakes by followers will reduce.

Another important quality is decision making. Above all, if a leader makes poor decisions then other qualities will not matter. Furthermore, good decision making ensures the success of the entire group. If the leader makes poor decisions, then the efforts of followers won’t matter.

A good leader must be an excellent innovator. He must display a creative attitude in his work. Most noteworthy, innovation is a guarantee of survival of a group or innovation. Without creative thinking, progress is not possible.

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Real-Life Examples of Good Leadership

Mahatma Gandhi was an excellent example of a good leader. He was a staunch believer in non-violence. With his brilliant Leadership skills, he made the British leave India. Probably, this was the most unique independence struggle. This is because Gandhi got freedom without any violence.

Abraham Lincoln was another notable leader. Most noteworthy, he ended the slavery system in the United States. Consequently, he made many enemies. However, he was a man of massive self-confidence. His struggle against slavery certainly became an inspiration.

Sir Winston Churchill was a great patriotic Englishman. Most noteworthy, he led Britain in the 2nd World War. Furthermore, he was extremely inspirational. He inspired Britain to fight against Nazi Germany. His great communication motivated the entire country at a time of hopelessness.

To conclude, Leadership is required in probably every sphere of life. Good leadership is the door to success. In contrast, bad leadership is a guarantee of failure. Consequently, good leaders are what make the world go round.

FAQs on Leadership

Q.1 Which is the most important quality for being a good leader? A.1 The most important quality for being a good leader is self-confidence.

Q.2 Why Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader? A.2 Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader because he inspired Britain to fight in 2nd World War. Furthermore, his excellent communication also raised the motivation of his people.

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Essay on leadership: meaning, nature and importance of leadership.

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Essay on Leadership: Meaning, Nature and Importance of Leadership!

“Leadership is the quality of behavior of individuals whereby they guide people or their activities in organising efforts” — Chester I. Barnard

“Leadership is the ability of a superior to induce subordinates to work with confidence and I zeal” — Koontz and ‘Donnell

“Leadership is the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides and influences the work of others in attaining specified goals.” — Theo Haimann

Leadership may be defined as a position of power held by an individual in a group, which provides him with an opportunity to exercise interpersonal influence on the group members for miobilising and directing their efforts towards certain goals. The leader is at the centre of group’s power structure, keeps the group together, infuses life into it, moves it towards its goals and maintains its momentum.

He may emerge in a group by virtue of his personality characteristics and qualities or by virtue of common consent by group members. In the latter case, the leader derives his power from the group members. He continues in the leadership position at the pleasure of group members collectively. Leadership position exists in most group settings irrespective of the size of the group.

For example, a leader of national or international standing commands widespread influence over a large number of people while the influence of the leader of a small work group in an organisation is very limited. Both are leaders in their own right and fulfill our definition of leadership.

Leadership is an influential process. The leader is in a position to shape, regulate, control and change the attitudes, behaviour and performance of his group members. The latter are supposed to comply with the former’s desires and directives and partially suspend their own judgment and discretion. There exists a particular relationship between the leader and his group members which is characterised by interpersonal and social interaction.

In a group, the leader and his followers play the roles expected of them and thereby seek to justify their respective positions. Some leaders may be able to play their role effectively whereby they succeed in getting the willing cooperation and commitment of their followers, beyond the normal call of duty.

In any group situation, the leader has a few bases of power by virtue of which he is in a position to influence the behaviour of group members. They are:

(i) Knowledge, information and experience

(ii) Resources for dispensing favours, rewards and penalties

(iii) Formal authority

(iv) Charisma

(v) Distinct personality characteristics like for example, will to dominate, ability to establish rapport, skill to communicate, identity with and understanding of people, decisiveness and soon.

Skillful use of these power bases by a leader is likely to bring success to him; and success in some cases adds to the power of the leader. A successful leader gains more credibility in the eyes of people; they often tend to ignore other deficiencies in him; they resolve to adhere to him and allow themselves to be further exposed to his influence attempts.

In this way some leaders entrench themselves in their positions. Some even misuse their power and often get away with it. Power carries with it an equal amount of responsibility. Leaders who relate their power with responsibility in a consistent manner are more successful in their influence than otherwise.

Importance of Leadership:

The following points highlight the importance of leadership:

(i) Effective direction:

An organisation comes into existence with certain objectives. To attain the objectives, the activities of the organisation must be directed. Direction of the activities is effected through leadership. In short, effective leadership directs the activities of an organisation towards the attainment of the specified organisational goals.

(ii) Source of motivation:

Leadership is the motivating power to group efforts. Effective leadership motivates the subordinates for higher productivity.

(iii) Confidence:

Leadership creates confidence in-the subordinates by giving proper guidance and advice.

(iv) High morale:

Good leadership increases the morale of the employees which, in turn, contributes to higher productivity.

(v) Development of team spirit:

Effective leadership promotes team-spirit and team­work which is quite essential for the success of any organisation.

(vi) Encouraging initiative:

A progressive, forward and democratic minded leader, always encourages initiative on the part of the followers.

(vii) Overcoming resistance to change:

A leader overcomes resistance, if any on the part of followers to organisational changes; through explaining to them the utility of such changes to both—the enterprise and the employees.

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