The leader: history and modern comprehension

The article discusses the history of formation of the institute of leadership, traces the dependence of its characteristics in two aspects: from the features of certain stages in history to the features of the style of philosophical thinking that initiates the specific content of this institution. Attention is focused on the value paradigm that identifies the institute of leadership at present, its main parameters. We have revealed the potential of the psychosemantic approach in the study of leadership. We proceed from the thesis that the central concept in a psychosemantic approach is “meaning” as a formative consciousness. Tracing the genesis of meaning from its simplest forms to the most developed form (a scientific concept), the researcher gets the opportunity to study the ontogeny of consciousness. Developing a psychosemantic approach and applying it to the study of leadership, we focus on the reconstruction of individual value systems and meanings, which makes it possible to identify the internal value coordinates, in accordance with which the leader perceives the world and builds his activities. This approach, as emphasized in the article, is largely opposed to the behavioral approach, which is still dominant in leadership studies, and the leader is not considered as a set of behavioral characteristics and diagnostic indicators.