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Resilience through Leadership 59

Leadership, then, is a special case of a much broader construct, interper-
sonal power. The distinguishing characteristic and theoretical signifi cance of

leadership is that it requires the unforced, voluntary acceptance of infl uence
(see Katz & Kahn, 1978).
A complicating factor is that responsiveness to infl uence can also occur
as a key aspect in interpersonal interactions that may or may not involve

leadership per se. For example, influence can be exerted simply by exercising
positional authority such as that held by a parent or a boss. To overcome
this conceptual obstacle, some leadership researchers (i.e., Katz & Kahn,

1978) suggest that true leadership is an “incremental” influence, that is, an

influence over and above the influence that stems simply from a person’s

positional authority or the rewards and the sanctions that can be issued from
it. In this view, leaders are individuals who can access and exert an extra
reservoir of infl uence over and above the infl uence that is purely positional,
particularly in the form of charisma and personal (referent) power.
Other investigators (e.g., French & Raven, 1968) simply acknowledge that
social influence may derive from several sources (e.g., expertise, legitimate

authority, power to reward or punish, referent power) and that leaders

distinguish themselves as such by tapping into more sources of influence or by
using a more effective combination of them. The U.S. Army’s approach to lead-

ership embodies this philosophy. The Army defines leadership as “ infl uencing

people—by providing purpose, direction and motivation—while operating to
accomplish the mission and improving the organization” (FM 22–100, 1999:
1–4). The Army expects its leaders to use all available bases of social power—

formal authority, expertise, rewards, punishments, and charisma—in leading
subordinates to achieve mission and organizational goals.
Personal and Inherent Qualities

Another notion common among many views of leadership is that something
inherent or intrinsic to the nature or character of an individual plays an

essential role in effective leadership. There is widespread agreement that cer-

tain personal qualities of a leader will tend to exert a signifi cant effect upon the
willing compliance of others. Frameworks that emphasize personal charisma
(e.g., Burns, 1978; House, 1977) or the ability to inspire and transform follow-
ers (e.g., Bass & Riggio, 2006) are noteworthy examples of this view. Likewise,
there are many popular “trait” formulations of leadership (e.g., Stogdill, 1974;
Yukl, 2005). In each case, the fundamental assertion is that influence resides in

some special configuration of personal qualities that only true leaders possess.

Although no specific leadership trait combination has yet been identifi ed,

formal efforts to develop leadership typically assume that individuals are

sensitive to leadership attributes and values such as confidence and compe-
tence, integrity, trustworthiness, loyalty, and honor. For example, U.S. Army

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