ABSTRACT
Leadership has for centuries been associated with heroes and myths. In the earliest myths, the great leaders were gods, or blessed by gods with superhuman characteristics. These special properties were examined extensively by the great sociologist Weber. He retained the ancient term charisma (blessed by the gods) for the special property possessed by great leaders, and he labelled the leaders as charismatics. Weber considered that charismatic leaders had unshakable power over followers, and saw the phenomenon as a primitive form of leadership that would be replaced by a more modern and rational form in the emerging industrial organisations of the nineteenth century.
