Relational Creation of Leadership Identity

In this chapter we continue to develop the book's fundamental idea that both leaders and other participants in their organisations are intertwined, whether they wish to be or not, in a web of relations and are continuously positioning one another in dynamic interactions that they create. We view organisations as complex, dynamic, relational landscapes (Shotter 1998) where meaning is constantly co-constructed. Likewise, leading is viewed as something that arises in the presence of employees, other leaders and other participants, and consists of a number of social processes that enable people to work together and coordinate their actions.