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Part I: Introduction: The Theory Of Leadership

Chapter List

Chapter 1: An Overview
Chapter 2: Values Leadership
Chapter 3: Inner Leadership

Part Overview

Leaders do not arise from a grant by others of the powers of command claimed and exercised by them. Rather, leaders are selected by followers who willingly accept their lead. Leaders attract followers by stimulating their emotions (Plas, 1996) and offering suggestions to their instincts. This definition runs counter to the authority basis some claim for it. Authority is a management idea and focuses the analyst on concepts of system, structure, and procedure. Instead, leaders use follower values, aspirations, emotions, and intrinsic needs to insure commitment to group purposes and to inspire behavior to make those purposes real. Thought of in these terms, leadership is distinct from traditional management theory. It bases its utility on different theory, different action techniques, and different outcomes.

Of course, management skills can enhance leadership. Both are necessary to success. Effective executives have to be both leaders and managers. The capacity to lead is within each person and needs only to be tapped. Leadership is a set of special techniques that executives at any level in the organization— especially the middle regions—can use to add a substantively new element to their behavior. Leadership adds new values also, like integrity, accountability, and vision. Discussion and analysis of the elements of inner leadership, the values component of the leader's tasks, and the unique techniques leaders use is a necessary first step in bringing leadership alive. This introductory section includes material helpful to emergent and practicing leaders about the special skills, knowledge, and techniques they need as they prepare to lead.

The three chapters in Part I provide a definitional basis for leadership generally and values leadership in particular. An evolving and key part of values leadership is the notion that workers come to work armed with their full range of talents, skills, knowledge, and desires—including a desire for personal spiritual growth and maturation. They expect that their work—the place where they spend most of their productive time—will satisfy their spiritual values, as well as their economic and social needs. Part I also identifies the special nature and character of inner leadership, the kind of leadership practiced in the middle ranges of the corporation. This definitional discussion serves as a foundation for the detailed treatment of specific leadership techniques that follow in the succeeding parts of this resource.

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