Leadership in Action: Issues and Observations - Changing the Conversation About Leadership

Issues & Observations

Changing the Conversation About Leadership

Wilfred H. Drath and Ellen Van Velsor

In “Finding True Value in Leadership,” an article in the May/June 2005 issue of Leadership in Action, Adel Safty, founding UNESCO Chair of Leadership and president of the Global Leadership Forum, adds his voice to a rising chorus calling for an understanding and practice of leadership that transcends individualism, competition, and power. He rightly points out that leadership is too often associated with the hegemony of Western business models and practices.

Many of Safty's arguments recall those presented by Ronald A. Heifetz in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers (Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1994). Heifetz sees leadership ...