The Psychological Record, 2009, 59, 701–704
Book Reviews
Hollander, E. P. (2009)
Inclusive Leadership: The Essential Leader-Follower Relationship
New York: Routledge
Pp. xix + 263. ISBN: 978-0-8058-6439-7
This book is the capstone of a distinguished 50-year career in the study
of leadership. It is a unique volume that serves two purposes: first, as a
summary and synthesis of inclusive leadership and the idiosyncrasy credit
model of leadership and, second, as a very personal research biography, as
Hollander details the stories behind his research program and his motivation
for pursuing this work. Because this book is a comprehensive look back at half
of a century of research and theory, many of the chapters are drawn from the
author’s previous work. However, this is not simply a historical compilation
of inclusive leadership’s greatest hits. Some of the chapters are revised and
rewritten, several are drawn from major addresses and presentations that
heretofore have not seen print, and others are newly written for this volume.
Commentary and introductory remarks precede the chapters.
The first three chapters introduce inclusive leadership and the
idiosyncrasy credit model of leadership and place it in the context of classic
and current leadership research. Written for this volume, the chapters provide
a concise summary of Hollander’s perspective and its relationship to other
prevailing theories of leadership. These chapters highlight the important
and distinguishing attribute of inclusive leadership: It is not about leaders.
Nearly every other extant leadership theory is concerned with leader behavior
and attributes, but in contrast, inclusive leadership is concerned with
follower behavior. Inclusive leadership proceeds from a simple yet powerful
observation: There are no leaders without followers. By extension, followers
make the leader. However, this is not a linear one-way street. An inclusive
leader does not lead as much by the legitimacy of authority as through the
support of followers. Leaders acquire follower support through a dynamic
process Hollander calls idiosyncrasy credits. According to the idiosyncrasy
credit model, a leader builds “credits” with followers by showing competence
and loyalty and helping to achieve group goals. As a leader banks credits,
the leader may then engage in idiosyncratic, or nonconforming, innovative
leadership behaviors. Success or failure of these more innovative leadership
activities will then build or debit the leader’s credits. In this model, “leadership”
is granted by followers on a contingent basis with constant reassessment.
Leadership is a relationship.
The second section (Chapters 4–15) details inclusive leadership and its
implications. Most of these chapters are either revisions of earlier work or
the text of scholarly presentations and addresses. The author’s notes and
commentary at the start of each chapter anchor its current relevance and
702
Book Reviews
provide some nice insights into Hollander’s thinking about leadership
and how his perspective developed. In keeping with inclusive leadership’s
emphasis on followers, fully half of the chapters explicitly address leadershipfollowership dynamics. The remainder of the chapters take up topics as varied
as organizational leadership, women and leadership, college and university
leadership (Hollander was founder and twice director of the social and
organizational psychology doctoral program and provost of social sciences
at the University of Buffalo), and presidential leadership. This latter chapter
was newly written for this volume, and although it could not include material
about the 2008 U.S. presidential election, this chapter seems prescient as the
new administration is settling in, as Hollander notes in a subheading, “crises
create even more power” (p. 115).
The third section (Chapters 16–18) focuses more on the idiosyncrasy credit
model, with special attention to issues of conformity and nonconformity.
The first chapter is a synthesis of two of Hollander’s early (late 1950s) major
papers from Psychological Review and Sociological Review. This chapter never
drifts into the realm of quaint and curious but instead stands firm with its
fundamental truths that are as relevant in the Internet Age as they were in
the Atomic Age. The remaining two chapters in the section delve further into
implications of conformity and nonconformity for leadership, showing how
conformity and nonconformity affect the balance of idiosyncrasy credits, and
also place inclusive leadership in the broader context of social conformity
and nonconformity.
The fourth and final section is a career-retrospective Afterword and a
short summary of the development of the Inclusive Leadership Scale (ILS–
16) and display of the scale. The Afterword is a chronological summary of
Hollander’s scholarly journey and academic career, starting as a Junior Air
Raid Warden as a high school student in New York City in World War II, his
own military service, education at Western Reserve University and Columbia
University, research and administrative posts around the United States and
later around the world, and his return to New York City as a professor at
CUNY. Hollander’s professional journey parallels his scholarly excursion. It is
not coincidental that the conceptual and theoretical section of the book ends
with his two earliest major papers.
Inclusive Leadership is an engaging book that will appeal to a variety of
audiences. Sections 2 and 3 and the ILS–16 make this book an important
addition to any leadership researcher’s library. Section 1 and the Afterword
(as well as some selected chapters and commentary) are excellent choices
for an undergraduate or graduate seminar in research methods or research
biographies. After students master the mechanics of behavioral research and
begin to branch out and develop their own research agendas, the important
issue is not how to answer a question but how to ask a question. When the
question becomes more important than the answer, insights such as those
detailed in this volume are invaluable. Any student who has ever wondered,
“How do I come up with a good research topic?” will find much good counsel
in these pages, not only in the nascent stages of a research agenda, but also in
maintaining a vigorous research program that sustains a career and stands
the test of time. A third audience for this book is those who endeavor to teach
leadership and their students. Inclusive leadership and the idiosyncrasy
credit model provide an alternative, accessible framework for practical
leadership. As Hollander points out multiple times in the volume, most
Book Reviews
703
leadership scholarship is leader centric. This work is vast, exhaustive, and
largely unsatisfying to most leaders and potential leaders. For every leader
trait identified, one can easily conjure a counterexample; each contingency,
situation, and model offered seems too constrained; and the grandiosity of
charisma and transformation appear to be the exception rather than the rule
in most daily work and community settings. However, inclusive leadership is
as applicable in the executive suite as it is with a crew cleaning a hotel suite;
the budding shift supervisor or community leader may not have the authority
or opportunity to be transformational, yet any leader at any level has the
responsibility to engage their followers. Inclusive leadership is for everyman
and everywoman. Along a leader’s steep and thorny journey, beauty, strength,
and other traits depart quickly and knowledge can fade, leaving only the
leader’s good deeds, building idiosyncrasy credits among the followers and
gaining their support.
Donald A. Hantula, Temple University

704
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