The Leader or Leadership - Which Is the Key to Success? Is the Shadow of Leader's Traits Hunts Organizational and Societal Systems from Achieving Long Term Sustainability?

Abstract

Modern leadership theories, while started with the trait approach, have offered much more sophisticated conceptual frameworks for the study of leadership in the past century that go well beyond the initial theories. The process of evolution in leadership thoughts resulted in emerging a series of conceptual frameworks and models that started with focusing on leadership behaviors and styles, and not necessarily on the leader as a primary factor. Later situational theories brought the issue of contextual factors as a main basis for shaping leadership approaches compatible with the demands of both internal and external environments with the aim of selecting the optimal leadership style that leads to the success and sustainability of the institution. This paper takes the position that the primary focus on leadership success need to be put on creating a leadership system and its related processes that permeate throughout the entity and not on individual leader's predisposition or action. By bring some examples from the real world this position supports that effective leaders are those who always pay attention to creating a leadership system and processes that permeate the whole entity and outlive their very presence. The final conclusion of the paper is that key to successful and effective leadership would be to be adoptive, give primacy to the leadership system compatible with the needs of the time and situation and not giving too much credit to the action of an individual leader more than it deserves. This would open the path to success and sustainability for any system, be it business, public, nonprofit, or political entity.

Keywords: Transformational, Charismatic, super leadership, Leadership process, system, Leader or Leadership, sustainability