Adaptive leadership theory: Leading and following as a complex adaptive process

In this article. I develop a theory explaining how recurring patterns of leading following interactions produce emergent leader follower identities, relationships and social structures that enable groups to develop and adapt in dynamic contexts. In describing this emergent leading following process. I attempt to shift the theoretical focus away from people as leaders or followers, and instead foreground the evolutionary value of a dynamic and fluid leading-following process. By emphasizing an interactive and contextually embedded process of leading and following in groups, this theory provides a theoretical basis for challenging the individualistic, hierarchical, one-directional and de-contextualized notions of leadership that permeate the existing literature. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.