Concerning the definition of leadership, there are numerous statements in all kinds of books as well as articles. For instance, in the book of Multiple Intelligences and Leadership, Chemers defined leadership as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task, whereas Alan Keith regarded leadership as the action of creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.
Certainly, leadership has several important and significant aspects that we should take into serious consideration if we want to form a personal definition of it. Trait theory of leadership began as early as Plato's question of "What qualities distinguish an individual as a leader?" in his masterpiece, Republic. Researchers in this field conducted over a hundred studies proposing a number of characteristics that distinguished leaders from non-leaders, like intelligence, dominance, adaptability, persistence, integrity, SES (socioeconomic status), and self-confidence.
However the other scholars refuted the idea by leading a series of qualitative reviews of the past studies which suggested that persons who are leaders in one situation may not necessarily be leaders in other situations. And then leadership was no longer characterized as an enduring individual trait, as situational theory of leadership posited that individuals can be effective in certain situations, but not others. In a nutshell, what an individual actually does when acting as a leader is in large part dependent upon