Leadership: demythologizing some concepts

Abstract

Leadership is a topic of almost universal fascination. Popular attention focuses on it because its overtones of success, power, and prestige are traditionally admired and pursued human goals; academic interest in it is intense because it is a central concept in social and behavioral investigations in both developed and developing countries. The breadth of coverage in the literature is enough in itself to inspire awe among writers and surfeit among readers. Most management and organization texts, for example, contain several chapters on the subject.