Business Leadership: A Jossey-Bass Reader

Chapter 28. Creating and Managing a Learning Culture: The Essence of Leadership

Edgar H. Schein

It can be argued that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is create and manage culture, that the unique talent of leaders is their ability to understand and work with culture, and that it is an ultimate act of leadership to destroy culture when it is viewed as dysfunctional. What distinguishes leadership from management or administration is that leaders create and change culture, while managers and administrators act within it. By defining leadership in this manner, I am not implying that culture is easy to create or change, or that formal leaders are the only determiners of culture. However, if the group's survival is threatened because ...