Host leadership: towards a new yet ancient metaphor

Abstract

The idea of leader as host came to me very suddenly on 16 February 2003, during a seminar by Matthias Varga von Kibéd and Insa Sparrer. It seems to me that the metaphor of leader as host offers a view on leadership that is at once rooted in millennia of practice and at the same time is something new and timely.Such metaphors are very important in my view ‐ they offer a rich and broad set of ideas about leadership in a way that allows interpretation into many different real‐life situations. Rather than a prescription, such metaphors offer us a way to engage with often difficult situations and quickly alter our thinking to come from another place. Building on the existing ideas of heroic and servant leadership, I hope you will find inspiration of a very practical kind in the metaphor and practice of the host.

Citation

McKergow, M. (2009), "Host leadership: towards a new yet ancient metaphor", International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 19-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/17479886200900005