Professionalizing leadership

In Professionalizing Leadership, leadership scholar Barbara Kellerman lays out a plan to remedy the field's vagueness by advocating testing, certification, and regulation that befit a true profession. She takes a historical view to examine how our values have shifted and why the endeavor of leadership has diminished in most institutions, with the exception of the American military. The twenty-first century has largely been about expanding the rights and education of the many, but has left comparatively little focus on leaders-that is, the few. Though many have ambitions to become successful leaders, the leadership programs they are offered are too easy to get into and insufficiently rigorous once students are admitted. Leadership studies, Kellerman argues, must build on a solid intellectual foundation and recognize the distinctions among educating potential leaders, training for leadership, and developing great leaders over time. Professionalizing Leadership illuminates the pitfalls and potential of leadership education, and outlines a logical sequence for professionalizing the field.