Leadership has all too often been conceptualized as the province of a remote
few individual leaders or, according to some recent scholarship and practice, as a group, team, or organizational phenomenon. This paper challenges those conceptualizations: Using the O.J. Simpson case as a point of departure, it argues, first, that leadership is present in common, everyday situations and, in fact, is accessible through the push of a button; and, second, it suggests that leadership can be exercised by broader, macro-level entities -- e.g., the media, nations, consolidations, unions -- as well as by individuals or teams/groups/organizations. It proposes an inclusive ecology of levels of analysis for leadership studies and introduces the basis for a new theoretical research program to advance the field.
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