There is a wide spectrum of definitions of leadership. The diversity of situations and contexts in which superior–subordinate interactions take place means that a coherent definition with universal aspirations may tell us relatively little about the complexity of the phenomena it refers to. Leadership is not just a leader acting and a group of followers responding in a mechanical way, but a complex social process in which the meanings and interpretations of what is said and done are crucial.

Leadership, then, is closely related to culture – at the organizational and other levels. For different groups, leadership has different meanings and values. There are significant variations between different sectors, organizations, workplaces and groups within societies regarding their attitude to leadership, including regional differences. There is a general trend to ascribe more and more significance to leadership as a way of solving organizational problems.

One reason for this celebration of leadership is the general tendency to want to make what we do more impressive and nice-sounding in order to raise status and self-esteem. How people talk and in other ways express sentiments about leaders and leadership indicates wider cultural patterns on human nature, social relations, hierarchies, power, etc. This approach would partly avoid the difficulties in defining leadership once and for all, valid over time and space.