Facing the Leadership Challenge

Charlotte Young of the School for Social Entrepreneurs explains the emotional dynamics of leadership.

In her paper, Charlotte Young argues that “In most current writing, leadership is discussed mainly as a list of ideal characteristics, derived by looking at similarities found among successful leaders” but that “In reality, adults are not able to make massive changes to their personality and capabilities to fit perfectly into the leadership template”

Leadership is therefore better thought of as an active and purposeful relationship, supported by the activities which enhance levels of motivation and focus direction so as to mobilise the enterprise's supporters towards a goal.

Charlotte and a colleague interviewed 12 entrepreneurial leaders and some of their supporters to throw light on entrepreneurial leadership.

They discovered that in the context of community activity, a leader is rarely appointed but is more likely to evolve into a leadership role.

Most of the subjects experienced the transition to leader as a major psychological turning point, typified by a sharply defined and challenging moment when they realised they must take the lead.

Commitment and emotion

Commitment to their cause was the driving force - an often sudden awareness that if they did not take the challenge then what they most passionately wanted would not happen.

There was a strong emotional content to entrepreneurial leadership, especially in start-up contexts. The most common set of circumstances were:

• A passionate belief about a need.
• Recognition that action is about taking personal responsibility and abandoning negative-passive responses to frustration in favour of responsibility positive energy and empowerment.
• A background of unusually powerful messages from parents and/or other significant models, either about making a positive difference in the world or, negatively, about never making waves.
• Becoming aware of how to make use of their particular characteristics and style, recognising their outstanding capabilities, getting a real ‘sense of self' and beginning to create a unique leadership signature.

Follow this link to the Socialenterprise website to read Charlotte Young’s paper (opens in a new browser window)

Socialenterprise, now in its fourth year, was the UK’s first monthly magazine devoted to providing accessible, comprehensive news and practical help for everyone interested in social enterprise.

For further information

Contact	:	The Editor, Socialenterprise
Email	:	tim@socialenterprisemag.co.uk