Introduction

Abstract

Leaders and leadership fascinate us. This is unsurprising given the current state of our world, the news headlines and the continuing uncertainties. As we write this introduction to our book, we are in the middle of a financial crisis, the Middle East is experiencing turmoil and threatens to spill over, there is political controversy engulfing leaders in Italy, the United States, Africa and elsewhere, and we are coming to terms with disruptive technology that seems to be changing many of the assumptions we make about our lives and our futures. Leaders and leadership are in our media and on our minds every day of the year.