Leadership - What Really Matters: A Handbook on Systemic Leadership (Management for Professionals)

regard to the interaction of the forces at work in it and especially with regard to
leadership (Fig.2.10).

2.5 Conclusion: The Power of Soft Factors

The different approaches presented above all have their value, as most of them
provide practical benefits for leadership. However, they are mostly limited to a
single aspect and neglect other important factors. Leadership is neither only a
question of the leader’s personality nor of his or her skills; likewise, it does not
solely consist in the leadership situation or focus on the subordinates. Leadership
takes place in the intersection of all these factors. The truth is – as always – in
between.
In the next step, the four factors – though their number can be increased or
decreased arbitrarily – can be combined into two categories: “hard” and “soft”
factors. The “hard” factors are tangible and can be measured. These are structures,

Structure

organizational

structure

Super-

ordinate

goals

Staff

Strategy

skills

professional

and social

skills

Systems

concept of

leadership

Style

style of

leadership

culture

Fig. 2.10 The 7-S model (Source: Peters and Robert 1982)

114 2 Occupation or Calling: What Makes for Good Leadership?