Leader

A leader is an individual who influences and directs a group toward shared goals. Leadership is the process of guiding others, aligning efforts, and coordinating actions to achieve objectives. Leaders may hold formal authority or emerge informally through expertise and social influence.

Leaders can be formal, appointed or elected to positions such as executives, governors, or team captains, or informal, gaining influence through credibility, communication, and relationships.

Key leader responsibilities include setting a vision, communicating expectations, building teams, allocating resources, making decisions under uncertainty, and fostering an ethical climate. Effective leaders adapt to changing conditions and encourage participation and learning.

Leadership theories describe different ways people understand leadership. Trait theory posits that certain dispositions contribute to effective leadership; behavioral theory emphasizes actions; contingency and situational theories stress context. Other approaches include transformational leadership, which aims to inspire and elevate followers; transactional leadership, which relies on rewards and penalties; servant leadership, which focuses on serving followers; authentic leadership, which emphasizes genuineness; and distributed leadership, which distributes influence across a group.

In practice, leadership development includes training, mentorship, experiential learning, and succession planning. Good leadership often entails accountability, transparency, and a focus on the welfare of followers and stakeholders.

In typography, a leader is a series of dots or other characters used to connect headings or entries to page numbers or other destinations, helping readers navigate. The concept of leader as a person is distinct from this typographic use.