Introduction

Abstract

This book emerges from a conference held at Cranfield School of Management in December 2006. This was the fifth international studying leadership conference held in the UK: this series of conferences was first held at Said Business School and subsequently held at Lancaster, Exeter, Cranfield and Warwick and by 2008 has evolved internationally with the conference held in Auckland. It has from its inception been an important annual meeting both for leadership scholars and practitioners concerned to keep abreast of the latest academic research. From the start the conference attracted people in sufficient numbers to indicate the perceived importance of leadership studies and the desire amid this community to refresh our thinking in a field abundant with leadership theory and leadership development solutions.