Overview and First Principles of Developing Leaders and Leadership

The opening chapter provides an overarching framework and the motivation for this volume. A central thesis is that there is a need for more scholarly treatment of the science behind developing leaders and leadership. Instead of presenting what individuals need in the way of prescribed knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies, traits, and on and on, the approach presented in this volume focuses on the scientific study of leader and leadership development. How has the research been conducted methodologically? What are the kinds of variables used in related research? A major component of this introductory chapter is a set of First Principles that underpin how the development of leaders and leadership are considered scientifically along with a discussion of their implications. The First Principles of leader and leadership development proposed here are: (1) You cannot make anyone develop as a leader, (2) Development requires dedicated work over a long period of time, (3) To the extent that leadership is learned it is learned through experience, (4) The foundation of any meaningful developmental experience includes assessment, challenge, and support, and (5) There are evidence-based practices that support the development of leaders and leadership.