<p>The meaning of the word leadership is changing over time, and so is the role of the leader. Organisational labour is today required to be more self-governing as organisational tasks are moving towards a more flexible and independent nature. This requires a leadership able to inspire and motivate independent performance by acting as an inspirational mentor or coach (Bass and Riggio (2005). Those leaders and that style of leadership have many names, but in our research they are titled as Transformational and Charismatic leaders, as well as Super Leaders. Perhaps they are best described by using Vardiman et al (2006:97) own words: <em>“the most effective leaders teach others to be effective leaders of themselves and others."</em></p><p>Identifying, selecting and recruiting the right leader are a competitive advantage and an important success factor (Fernández-Aráoz et al, 2009). The objective of this thesis is therefore to gain knowledge in the manners present when charismatic and inspirational leaders with the ability to lead others to lead themselves are identified, recruited and selected. We judge gaining understanding in how to identify, attract, select, recruit and keep leaders with this special leadership style as a vital knowledge in today’s highly competitive business world.</p><p><p><p>This thesis approaches leader recruitment from both an external and internal perspective by conveying dialogues with recruitment consultants as well as with a HR-manager. The thesis further raises the question whether the inspirational and charismatic leadership style is appropriate in all type of organisations and here focus on organisational culture as a key determinant when recruiting leaders.</p></p></p>

The meaning of the word leadership is changing over time, and so is the role of the leader. Organisational labour is today required to be more self-governing as organisational tasks are moving towards a more flexible and independent nature. This requires a leadership able to inspire and motivate independent performance by acting as an inspirational mentor or coach (Bass and Riggio (2005). Those leaders and that style of leadership have many names, but in our research they are titled as Transformational and Charismatic leaders, as well as Super Leaders. Perhaps they are best described by using Vardiman et al (2006:97) own words: “the most effective leaders teach others to be effective leaders of themselves and others." Identifying, selecting and recruiting the right leader are a competitive advantage and an important success factor (Fernández-Aráoz et al, 2009). The objective of this thesis is therefore to gain knowledge in the manners present when charismatic and inspirational leaders with the ability to lead others to lead themselves are identified, recruited and selected. We judge gaining understanding in how to identify, attract, select, recruit and keep leaders with this special leadership style as a vital knowledge in today’s highly competitive business world. This thesis approaches leader recruitment from both an external and internal perspective by conveying dialogues with recruitment consultants as well as with a HR-manager. The thesis further raises the question whether the inspirational and charismatic leadership style is appropriate in all type of organisations and here focus on organisational culture as a key determinant when recruiting leaders.

Hiring the wrong leader can have disastrous effects on the productivity, moral, time and budget of an organization. In fact, a gap of leaders will arise in the next years, which makes it necessary to know and use the right strategies for attracting and selecting the appropriate future leaders who have the ability to successfully lead a company. Therefore, recruiting and selecting the right leaders is an important challenge for all organizations worldwide. How can they find, attract and choose people to become leaders? To answer this question, this Thesis looks at the whole process of hiring future leaders for organizations. First, we want to determine what is necessary to be successful in a leadership position in an organization. Second, we figured out what kind of recruitment strategies can be used in order to attract and find leaders, and third, we aim at showing which methods companies can employ to select the best fitting candidate for their vacant leadership position. In order to find answers to these questions, we have conducted interviews with seven leaders from different industry sectors, who shared their experience about leadership and the way of finding, attracting and selecting talented people who can become future leaders. Moreover, we conducted a questionnaire that has been handed out to students who might be potential leaders of the future. To ensure the meaningfulness of the study, we asked students from different faculties in 21 countries. The reason of the mixture of different sources is to acquire a broader insight into how the recruitment and selection of leaders takes place, with the aim of creating a representative picture.