Understanding Leadership Perspectives: Theoretical and Practical Approaches

hand. Indeed, we do not easily move out of one mind-set into another. What we believe to be true given our particular experience often seems to be the only truth. Often we need some outside force to trigger reevaluation and rethinking. That triggering force to intellectual growth may be a new idea, a new situation, a new value, a new boss, or some other significant emotional event – maybe, even, a new book. The Resear ch F oundation This book is founded on two pillars: one, a model of five leadership mind-sets c- mon in the last 100 years first presented in Gilbert W. Fairholm ’s (1998a, 1998b) book, Perspectives on Leadership: From the Science of Management to its Spiritual Heart ; and two, Matthew R. Fairholm’s (2002) dissertation, Conceiving Leadership: Exploring Five Perspectives of Leadership by Investigating the Conceptions and Experiences of Selected Metropolitan Washington Area Municipal Managers , which analyzed and validated the perspectives model (see the Appendix for more details). The data collected confirm there are five distinct perspectives of leadership evident in the 100-year history of leadership study and practice. The resulting model defines the five perspectives in terms of descriptions of leadership in action, leadership tools and behaviors, and the way leaders approach their relationship to followers. The five perspectives are related hierarchically so that they progressively encompass a unique perspective of the leadership phenomenon.

Matthew R. Fairholm is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science and the W.O. Farber Center for Civic Leadership at The University of South Dakota. He served as the Acting Director of the Center which provides educational enrichment activities; performs advising services to local, state, and national public entities; and researches current issues and trends through the Government Research Bureau. His academic and professional interests focus on public administration, leadership theory and practice, and organizational behavior. Prior to coming to USD, Dr. Fairholm was the Director of Leadership Studies and Development at the Center for Excellence in Municipal Management and Instructor of Public Administration at The George Washington University, where he continues to serve as a Senior Fellow. Dr. Fairholm's teaching and training experience spans the public, private, non-profit, and university settings. He has trained and consulted in a wide variety of organizations is a faculty presenter for the GWU Contemporary Executive Development program Recent articles he authored have been published in Public Administration Review, The Leadership and Organizational Development Journal, Public Management, The Public Manager, The Journal of Public Affairs Education and Public Administration Quarterly. 

Gilbert W. Fairholm Professor Emeritus in the Department of Public Administration, Virginia Commonwealth University, where he served as a member of the graduate faculty for 19 of his nearly 30 years in higher education. He was Adjunct Professor of Management Systems at the University of Richmond and Adjunct Professor of Leadership at Averett University. He is also a Senior Fellow of the George Washington University, Center for Excellence in Municipal Management; a Fellow of the Farber Center for Civic Leadership at the University of South Dakota; and a frequent trainer for the University of Richmond Management Institute. In addition to this academic training, he has extensive experience as a practicing leader with more than twenty years of leadership experience in both state and local government. Professor Fairholm is a frequent consultant to business and government, with an emphasis on leadership development, strategic visioning, and community building. He is the author of over 120 articles and research reports, and eight books, including: Value Leadership (Praeger, 1991), Organizational Power Politics (Praeger, 1993), Mastering Inner Leadership (Quorum, 2001), and Techniques of Inner Leadership (Praeger, 2003).