Introduction

Leadership is too often shrouded in mystery. To become leaders, we are urged to become a combination of Genghis Khan, Nelson ­Mandela, Machiavelli and Gandhi. A few people feel they are already that good. They are the sort of leader who is well worth not working for. The rest of us feel slightly small when measured against such giants.

The mystery deepens when you try to define what makes a good leader in practice. We can all recognise a good leader in our daily lives. But no leader seems to conform to a single template.

Some academics and consultants decided to solve the mystery of leadership. They had time on their hands – they ...

Get How to Lead, 6th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.