Leadership

Leadership: Toward a Visionary Approach

By

Richard D. Young

Introduction

Leadership is an important part of the human condition. It has been an indispensable and necessary factor in defining civilization through the ages. To understand the past, one studies the leaders who have shaped history. The present is comprehended by looking backwards at great and small leaders, and by examining leaders of today who influence the lives of trillions. Interestingly enough, but quite logically, people look to today’s leaders for what lies ahead. The vision of these contemporary leaders, it is believed, holds the keys to the future. Individuals look to these leaders and their visions of tomorrow in hope of better and more satisfying lives, not simply for themselves, but for their children and future generations to come.

As leadership is of great importance and concern to humankind, then it is reasonable to desire to understand what it is. What is leadership? How do morality and the common good fit into the leadership equation? Are there cultural and environmental considerations at stake in the notion and practice of leadership? What do the experts and researchers say with regard to the differing leadership approaches? Is there a difference, a real distinction, between leadership and management? And, lastly, what is the so-called “visionary leader” that is much discussed in today’s literature?

In this monograph, answers to these vital questions will be touched upon. Based on an extensive literature review, leadership will be examined in order to provide a discussion that will encapsulate, in narrative form, what leadership is and its various distinguishing factors. Additionally, as common sense, practical experience, and the literature dictates, this narrative will place leadership plainly in the spheres of both private and public theory and practice. Nevertheless, in the spirit of public policy research and its import in everyday affairs of government, some...