ABSTRACT
Effective leadership depends on the context, which includes the era in which it is practised. When the authors think about leadership, they don't start with a clean slate. Everyone has a view and our biases and assumptions come from leadership's historical context, which they briefly consider. In later thinking, reflecting a growing appreciation of complexity and chaos, authors have seen leadership as relating to the ability to be 'catalysts for complex, emergent change within interactive networks, of which they form a part'. Managers and leaders are often contrasted in books on leadership in negative ways that suggest that management is a stultifying activity that not only maintains the status quo but also is antipathetic to the goals of leadership. Leaders need management skills and, just as importantly, managers need leadership skills. The vision that leadership generates is brought into being and sustained through good management.
