Understanding All Aspects of Leadership – 20 Different Perspectives on Leadership

Great Confusion About the Term “Leadership” Today

Discussions about leadership today have become so frequent and impassioned that they have become almost evangelical in tone. Leading is a very human activity — everyone’s human — so everyone’s got lots of advice about leading. Leadership development has almost become spiritual development, rather than professional development.

In our advice, we associate any desirable trait to what leaders should be. It’s difficult to publish a book about business with having the term “leadership” in the title. While this trend has reminded us of the critical importance of leadership and sometimes greatly inspired us on to greater
achievements in life and work, it also has diffused the concept of leadership to the extent that the term has become almost useless in really helping people to become more effective in organizations.

Leadership Cube (TM)

Different people tend to talk about leadership from many different perspectives and not even realize that they are doing so. It is very simplistic to generalize about leadership as if the term applies the same way in every situation. Understanding the concept of leadership requires more than reading a few articles or fantasizing about what great leaders should be. To really understand leadership, one must understand “Leadership Cube.” The Cube represents at least 20 different perspectives on leadership.

The Cube includes the following dimensions:
1) five domains of leadership
2) two contexts of leadership
3) two orientations of leadership

Imagine each of these 3 dimensions along one side of a box, or cube. That would produce a cube with 20 smaller cells (5 times 2 times 2 = 20). Each of the 20 cells represents a unique perspective on leadership. You might consider some or all of the cells the next time that you use the term “leadership” in your studies, writings, research, discussions, etc.

Five Domains of Leadership

Domain	Relevant Leadership Skills
Leading yourself	Time management, stress management, assertiveness, etc.
Leading other individuals	Coaching, mentoring, delegating, etc.
Leading other groups	Meeting management, facilitation skills, etc.
Leading organizations	Strategic planning, Balanced Scorecard, etc.
Leading communities, societies, etc.	Community organizing, political skills, etc.

Two Contexts of Leadership

Context	Focus of Context
Roles	Board Chair, Chief Executive Officer, executive roles, etc.
Traits	Charismatic, influential, ethical, etc.

Two Orientations of Leadership

(see NOTE below)

Orientation	Leadership Values
Results-oriented	Timeliness, efficiency, work direction, authority, etc.
Relationship-oriented	Participation, empowerment, relationships, etc.

NOTE: The orientation of leadership is adapted from the Hersey-Blanchard situational model of leadership in “Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources”, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1982.

Learn More in the Library’s Blog Related to Leadership

In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blog which has posts related to Leadership. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.

Library’s Leadership Blog

Return to Overview of Leadership in Organizations

For the Category of Leadership:

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