Therefore, is there any value in defining organisational leadership style when it is so intangible?
This was selected as Best Answer Hi Andy, interesting question. I agree with Scott Byorum’s definition of leadership roles and with Ken Otter’s view of why it is important to define leadership in developing people. Your question was specifically about the value in defining an organizational leadership style, when leadership (itself) is so intangible. Like many of the other answerers, I do not agree that leadership is intangible. I also view an organizational leadership style as being a very large part of the corporate culture that is either in place or that the leadership team is trying to create and move toward. This is reflected in the vision, mission and values of an organization. If they aren’t explicitly called out, then the culture is often left to grow on it’s own, based on the interactions of the employee resource pool and force of personality of the informal organizational leaders. The the culture is explicitly defined, it requires care and feeding to keep it between the curbs
