RESEARCH Perspectives in Practice Leadership: Reflections over the Past 100 Years MARY B. GREGOIRE, PhD, RD, FADA; SUSAN W. ARENDT, MS, RD ABSTRACT Leadership, viewed by the American Dietetic Associa- tion as the ability to inspire and guide others toward building and achieving a shared vision, is a much writ- ten-about topic. Research on leadership has addressed the topic using many different approaches, from a very simplistic definition of traits to a more complex process involving interactions, emotions, and learning. Thou- sands of books and papers have been published on the topic of leadership. This review paper will provide ex- amples of the varying foci of the writings on this topic and includes references for instruments used to mea- sure leadership traits and behaviors. Research is needed to determine effective strategies for preparing dietitians to be effective leaders and assume leadership positions. Identifying ways to help dietitians better reflect on their leadership experiences to enhance their learning and leadership might be one strategy to ex- plore. J Am Diet Assoc. 2004;104:395-403. T he American Dietetic Association (ADA) recently de- fined leadership as “the ability to inspire and guide others toward building and achieving a shared vi- sion” (1). The ADA governing boards made a commitment at that time to continually invest in the development of members’ leadership skills (1). Such commitment is con- sistent with several publications urging the development of leadership skills of dietitians (2-9). Barker, Arensberg, and Schiller (2) noted, “The cry for dietetics leadership has been heard for decades” and de- scribed the need for dietitians to serve as leader-manag- ers, integrating both the role of leader and manager into one. Pace (5) contended that dietetics leaders are no longer defined by their ability to perform management- related or supervisory skills but by their ability to com- municate a vision to the team and to inspire individual members to take responsibility for team actions and de- cisions. The discussion on whether management and leader- ship are in fact two different concepts began in the 1970s. In 1977, Zaleznik first suggested in a classic Harvard Business Review article (10) that managers and leaders were two different types of people. Zaleznik contended that managers seek order and control and excel at diffusing conflicts and ensuring that day-to- day activities are accomplished. Leaders, conversely, thrive on chaos and are continually looking for new opportunities and different ways of achieving goals. This differentiation of management and leadership was supported by Kotter (11,12), who stated that good man- agement brings order and consistency, whereas leader- ship is about coping with change. Kotter believed that management controls people by pushing them in the right direction; leadership motivates and energizes people by satisfying basic human needs. Thousands of books and papers have been published on the topic of leadership. For this review paper, leadership will be treated as a concept that is different from manage- ment. This review paper will summarize only research related to leadership and provide examples of the vary- ing foci of the writings on this topic. LEADERSHIP DEFINED Although many authors have stressed the need for strong leadership skills in dietitians, a clear definition of what “leadership” is remains somewhat elusive. Numerous def- initions of leadership have appeared in the literature. Stogdill concluded after his review of the leadership lit- erature that “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept” (13). Figure 1 contains examples of the varied definitions of leadership from the business and dietetics literature. APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP Research on leadership has addressed the topic using many different approaches. The work has evolved from a very simplistic definition of traits to a more complex process involving interpersonal relations, emotions, and learning. Trait Approaches to Leadership Some of the earliest work on leadership began in the early 1900s and focused on the trait approach to defining leadership. The trait approach attempted to identify per- sonal characteristics of effective leaders. Figure 2 lists some traits identified. In an attempt to simplify the de- velopment of trait theories, researchers (21-23) proposed the “Big Five” model as a way to interpret and categorize M. B. Gregoire is professor and chair of the Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Man- agement, and S. W. Arendt is a PhD candidate in the Foodservice and Lodging Management program at Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Address correspondence to: Mary B. Gregoire, PhD, RD, FADA, Department of Apparel, Educational Stud- ies, and Hospitality Management, Iowa State Univer- sity, 1055 LeBaron Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1120. E-mail: mgregoir@iastate.edu Copyright © 2004 by the American Dietetic Association. 0002-8223/04/10403-0014$30.00/0 doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2003.12.024 © 2004 by the American Dietetic Association Journal of THE AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION 395