The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines leadership as: ‘the action of leading a group of people or an organization'; ‘the state or position of being a leader' (NODE, 2001).

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines leadership as ‘the office or position of a leader, the capacity to lead, and the act or instance of leading' (Merriam-Webster, 2007).

According to Dwight D Eisenhower (1988) "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."

Bass (1990, p.19) defines leadership as ‘an interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectations of members'.

Gardner (1990, p.1) defines leadership as ‘the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader and his or her followers'.

Kouzes and Posner (1995) identify leadership as a learnable set of practices.

Many others have defined leadership in terms of behaviors, traits, competencies, activities and results of leaders. Bennis (1994, p.1) notes that "To an extent, leadership is like beauty; it's hard to define, but you know it when you see it".