Leadership in Context

Leaders are made, not born, Mark Wexler argues, and they cannot be understood in a vacuum. There is no simple answer as to why certain people select one leader over others. Those who look for a master story within capitalism to encapsulate the effective leader are, he asserts, caught and blinded within the headlights of a particular worldview. Rather, leaders can be understood and evaluated within the cognitive lens of four distinct and competing worldviews - entrepreneurial, regulatory, communitarian and network. Exploring the manner in which leaders make and remake themselves in the midst of a changing world, the author shows how they must put together a composite of the skills called for in the four faces of capitalism. He illustrates how and why local leaders develop skills within a worldview and how cosmopolitan leaders, by engaging in reflective practice, cross over into other worldviews and reinvent themselves.

An accessible, interdisciplinary study of a fascinating subject, this volume will appeal to scholars and students of leadership, as well as to practising leaders, politicians and executives.