Directly from the Being a Leader course:
As a term, being a leader is defined as:
“Committed to realizing a future that wasn’t going to happen, which future fulfills the concerns of the relevant parties, and in the presence of an unlimited opportunity set for being and action, being used by a created context for leader and leadership, which context shapes the way you and the circumstances you are dealing with occur for you such that your naturally correlated way-of-being and acting is one of being a leader and exercising leadership effectively.” Erhard et al (2022) p.624
As you might suspect there is quite a bit more to this for which you need to make the slide deck text book yours (in the references below or take the course). We only have the definition, the context is missing that will give us the naturally correlated way-of-being and acting.
The rigorous definition is a 3/4ths of the way through the course. Mastery of the material comes with ‘discovering it for your self‘. Like we had to discover balance on a bicycle. A conceptual or theoretical understanding will not produce leaders. I invite you to take on a project that is bigger than you know how to accomplish as the person you are now. Then bring that to the Being a Leader course. Then you will be on the playing field and you will be able to map what is being distinguished in the course onto your project, thereby discovering it for yourself.
Engaging with the practice is what makes riding a bicycle part of you natural self expression. Every circumstance comes with a context(s). To play football, soccer, baseball or even be an observer to these sport, without a context which includes the rules of the game, some familiarity with the players, history of the game and players records, what kind of ball is used and so on. Can you imagine if you were used to going to see gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum and now you are confronted with a game where they are playing with a ball?
Every situation comes with some sort of context. The BAL Course is a created context which will use you so that you are used by being a leader and exercising leadership. Like balance uses a bicycle rider and you no longer need a theory or definition to balance.
Reference:
Erhard, Werner and Jensen, Michael C. and Zaffron, Steve and Zaffron, Steve and Echeverria, Jeronima, Course Materials for: ‘Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model’ (October 4, 2022). Harvard Business School NOM Working Paper No. 09-038, Simon School Working Paper No. 08-03, Barbados Group Working Paper No. 08-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1263835