Zacko-Smith, J: The Leader Label

Our Postmodern and hyper-diverse world is increasingly calling for highly flexible understandings of both leaders and leadership. Drawing on extensive research into the history and practice of the subject, in addition to personal experience, the author explores leadership through the lens of Social Constructionism, a framework that provides the flexibility necessary to ensure that leadership is available to everyone, in all contexts; essentialist understandings (such as trait theory) are shown as outdated and ill-equipped to be workable in diverse environments. After establishing a broad theoretical base from which to work, the author describes a study that used Constructionism successfully; investigating whether individual leadership perceptions could be influenced (since they are constructed socially) through the use of metaphor and narrative, which have been proven to effect the way in which we all perceive the world. Results of this research indicate that leadership perceptions can be influenced, and that leaders and leadership are, essentially, fully subjective and socially constructed realities. Implications are myriad, but point to developing leaders differently.