The Leader as a Broker of Dreams

Abstract

The paper presents a grounded theory which explains how a personal vision becomes enacted into reality within a corporate arena. This enactment process is defined as leadership. The theory suggests that leadership is a political process. For enactment to occur in a manner which is engaging and inspirational, the leader must design and maintain through, patterned interactions, a support system. The interactions are brokerage transactions in which the leader modifies and clarifies intentions in response to technical, social, and environmental concerns expressed through exchanges with members of this support system. As this happens the leader matures. Vision also becomes converted into a social dream which is scripted for the purpose of implementation.

Keywords

leadership visionary leadership transformational leadership personal vision leadership dream cognition cognitive mapping political action theory epigenetic development networking strategic change

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