Leadership 1. Readings on Leadership. Leadership

"Two hundred years ago," writes Warren Bennis (1989: 33)

when the nation's founders gathered in Philadelphia

to write the Constitution, the United States had a

population of only 3 million people, yet six world

class leaders contributed to the making of that

extraordinary document. Today, there are more than

240 million of us, and we have Ollie North, the

thinking man's Rambo. What happened?

Yet leadership seems to be surprisingly difficult to define in a way that tells what leaders actually are, or what they really do. Joseph C. Rost (1991) examined writings on leadership through the twentieth century, and found that concepts of leadership changed over the years. In the first three decades of the century, definitions emphasized "control and centralization of power" (Rost, 1991: 47). In the 1930s, the emphasis began to change to an examination of the traits of leaders and of the groups they led. Group dynamics held the field through the 1950s. Then, in the 1960s, the focus turned toward the idea

. . .
nherent in the very word. There are a number of dictionary definitions of leadership; several are given in Rost (1991). But the original sense of the word must have related to the days when journeys were difficult and dangerous, and the leader was the one who literally led a band of people, his or her followers, in some direction. Walking or riding at the front  in the lead  he or she chose the path, and was the first to encounter obstacles or dangers. Save for explorers or soldiers, we seldom today encounter leadership in this literal sense, yet this is perhaps a starting point for our understanding of the nature of leadership. 2. Profile of a Leader. As noted earlier, "leadership" is an oftenused term in our political debates. My best personal example of a leader comes indeed from politics  not from the lofty heights of elective office, but from the leadership of the local grassroots campaign organization for one of this year's majorparty presidential candidates. A grassroots political campaign effort involves some important and difficult leadership challenges. The people involved are volunteers. They can be assumed to have some enthusiasm for the cause  otherwise they wouldn't vo
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1395
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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