Judging Nonacademic Claims about Leadership According to Academic Standards

Abstract

This short piece questions the utility and preferable form of academic criticisms about popular materials on leadership, such as Ted talks, blogs, and what are called airport books. It then addresses an effort to say that when these materials claim that a leader is or does something in particular, what they are saying is that anyone who is, or does that particular thing is therefore a leader. It is unclear that anyone makes that argument. If these materials are instead stipulating a definition, then it is not invalid to apply that definition. But even if they are saying that among the things that leaders are or do is something in particular, they are still not saying that anyone who is or does that particular something is necessarily a leader. It is not illogical to identify what a person believes that leaders are or do. That much can be helpful. The question is what logical inferences they draw from this premise.