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Introduction
The overarching purpose of new paradigm business seems to be the enlightenment of all those working within it (Michael L. Ray, chapter in [47] Renesch, 1992, p. 33).
Business, industry, and society need more effective and enlightened leaders. Forces driving this need include the shift to sophisticated knowledge work, globalization, and the need for increased self-management ([21] Harung, 1996, [22] 1999). However, despite the growing demand, leaders continue to be in short supply ([16] Drucker, 1967; [27] Hasselbein et al. , 1996). A survey that Accenture carried out in 2007 amongst more than 900 top executives in the world largest companies in the USA, Italy, France, the UK, Germany, Spain, Canada, Japan, and China found that only 55 percent reported that their organization was able to bring forward executives with the ability and talent to handle rapid changes and new learning ([44] Moe, 2007). [53] Teegarden (2006) observed "impending shortages of leaders and managers in every sector from government to big business to the nonprofit sector". In education, it is recognized that leadership is the catalyst to high performing schools and especially turnarounds; therefore the shortage of leaders is understood to be a major constraint to improving school performance ([20] Gray et al. , 2007).
This shortage may to some extent be caused by the concept of leadership not being well understood. Indeed, despite thousands of empirical investigations, [4] Bennis and Nanus (1985) argue that:
Decades of academic analysis have given us more than 350 definitions of leadership [...] but no clear and unequivocal understanding exists as to what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders, and perhaps more important, what distinguishes effective leaders from ineffective leaders [...] leadership is the most studied and least understood topic of any of the social sciences [...] Leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen (pp. 4, 20).
[45] Northouse (2007, p. 3) offers the following definition of leadership:
Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.
[100] Blank (1995) points out that leadership is not just about the leader, but is a field of interaction between the leader and those who are willing follower-allies. In the present article, the word...