Leadership

Leadership can refer both to the process of leading, and to those entities that do the leading. The process of leadership can be actual or potential:

Scope of leadership

One can govern oneself, or one can govern the whole earth. In between, we may find leaders who operate primarily within:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• families
• bands
• tribes
• states and nations
• empires

Intertwined with such categories, and overlapping them, we find (for example) religious leaders (potentially with their own internal hierarchies), work-place leaders (executives, officers, senior/upper managers, middle managers, staff-managers, line-managers, team-leaders, supervisors ...) and leaders of voluntary associations.

Related Topics:
Executive - Officer - Senior/upper manager - Middle manager - Team-leader - Supervisor

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some anthropological ideas envisage a widespread (but by no means universal) pattern of progression in the organisation of society in ever-larger groups, with the needs and practices of leadership changing accordingly. Thus simple dispute resolution may become legalistic dispensation of justice before developing into proactive legislative activity. Some leadership careers parallel this sort of progression: today's school-board chairperson may become tomorrow's city councillor, then take in (say) a mayordom before graduating to nation-wide politics. Compare the cursus honorum in ancient Rome.

Related Topics:
Dispute resolution - Legislative - Mayor - Cursus honorum

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~