On Defining Leadership and Leadership Development

The wide and complex nature of leadership and its many different definitions make it very hard for scholars to determine the best leadership approach or style. And the nature, type of business, culture, requirements, and other unique challenges posed by today’s world also make it difficult to define leadership development. These challenges have made leadership and leadership development critical to the success of any organization, and they determine the way in which leadership and work can best be accomplished.

The problem with defining leadership is that a strongly defined theoretical position would be difficult to apply consistently to practical explorations of leadership in action (Aguirre, Master Cavanaugh, & Sabbagh, 2011). In addition, the effect of culture is very powerful when considering the concept of leadership. In each cultural background definitions of leadership are likely to be different. Therefore, a leader’s role and effectiveness can vary according to each culture. And leadership development programs do follow suit. Therefore, definitions of leadership and leadership development will continue evolving today and into the future, and new approaches and theories will be introduced.