THE NOTIONS OF LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL AND LEADERSHIP TRAITS: CONTENT AND USAGE ІN SCIENCE MIND

Purpose – Leadership is a complex concept that is discussed often in many books, blogs and articles, which try to identify those necessary traits to make one a leader. But leadership is ambiguous in that the characteristics that makes one a leader in one situation may not work and may even be detrimental in a similar one. Defining it is difficult, knowing it when you see it is easy. The purpose of this paper is to intend to make you aware of its complexity and your ability to become a leader yourself. Design/methodology/approach – By briefly comparing two successful but dissimilar leaders, the scope and breadth of leadership is introduced. Rather than attempting to define leadership, the paper proceeds to talk about what leadership is not, and why. It ends with an affirmation of our ability to become a leader and a “nudge” to develop those leadership skills we already possess. Findings – The paper suggests leadership is autological, something which defines itself, and that it is seen as different by every individual. It also proposes that we all have leadership traits within us and that whether we are consciously aware of it or not, we act as leaders every day. Practical implications – The thoughts this paper evokes can help those who are in leadership positions, those striving to become better leaders, and those who are not aware of their leadership potential by broadening their perspectives of leadership and our ability to attain it. Originality/value – This paper presents leadership in a unique manner, identifying its complexities while providing assurances it can be attained.

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Lead-Entropy

Advances in Religious and Cultural Studies - Handbook of Research on Chaos and Complexity Theory in the Social Sciences ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-0148-0.ch014 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 183-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Şefika Şule Erçetin ◽

Şuay Nilhan Açıkalın

Keyword(s):

Organizational Transformation ◽

Leadership Traits ◽

Positive Entropy ◽

Modus Operandi ◽

Leadership Potential ◽

Attention Focus

In a world where entropy has become the order of the day, leadership becomes even more central to organizational transformation. Leaders ought to devote their attention, focus, skills, techniques, efforts and values toward eradicating entropy in organizations or at least reduce it where possible. Entropy can be positive and negative wherein the first is precarious and the second is bearable. Positive entropy renders the organization chaotic, complex and edging closer to extinction. By talking about entropy from a theoretical and conceptual perspective, we only expand the talk and by assuming that reducing entropy is implied in conventional leadership, we still miss a point. Accordingly, there is a need to focus leadership potential on managing entropy in organizations. This paper coined the term Lead-Entropy as a combination of leadership and entropy. It is assumed that in such a leadership paradigm, leadership traits, functions, skills and techniques are all directed toward reducing or eradicating organizational entropy as a modus operandi. Discussing this subject is of paramount importance consequent to contemporary trends in organizations.

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