Learning from real life 'extraordinary' outdoor leaders

As we enter a new phase of being in the world, we are experiencing change at an ever increasing rate; faced with new challenges, traditional theories of leadership in isolation are proving to be inadequate, in particular when describing highly successful leaders in a number of sectors (business and management). This paper reports on early findings from doctoral research exploring the essence of ‘extraordinary’ outdoor leadership and the role of contemporary theories of leadership (transformational, authentic, and spiritual) in describing this level of leadership. Emerging from this research is a conceptual framework linking levels of leadership effectiveness (effective, exemplary and extraordinary) to the contemporary theories of leadership aforementioned. The framework was developed in order to aid the identification of characteristics, values, behaviours and skills of ‘extraordinary’ outdoor leaders. Early insights gleamed from the research thus far indicate the need to draw from a number of leadership theories when demonstrating ‘extraordinary’ outdoor leadership. Implications for how individuals approach their own leadership, as well as the development of leadership in outdoor education professionals will be discussed.