I had just sat down to relax and catch up on magazine articles. I selected an article in a prominent business magazine with a cover story on leadership; the experience turned out to be anything but relaxing.

As I was reading, I wanted to let out a primordial scream. There, in this respected American business publication, was a list of today’s top leaders. The article went so far as to call the list the world’sgreatest leaders. Of course, it contained the usual suspects—mostly high-ranking business executives and political figures. As I scanned the list, I wondered. Certainly, many of these high-level people were leaders in their current roles, because they were in positions of responsibility in large organizations with many employees. But just because they occupied the position, did this mean they were good leaders, let alone the world’sbest?

The article stated we can find leaders everywhere within organizations, but its list focused only on well-known people in high positions.

Are we so enamored with status that we assume people in high positions in large organizations are automatically the best leaders? It was sobering to recall that this publication (and many others) had lauded the disgraced CEOs of both Enron and Tyco as great leaders not too many years prior.

This list of the world’s greatest leaders also contained sports stars and pop stars. But were those people really leaders? They are extremely talentedspecialists: people who possess extraordinary individual talents. Outstanding individual skill, however, does not automatically transfer into effective leadership, as the record in sports demonstrates. In this domain, the best individual performer frequently doesnot become a successful coach or manager.

The magazine went on to laud the list’s sports stars and pop stars for their charity work. Without question, such efforts are worthy of praise. But had the stars in question simply lent their name to a cause and let others do the heavy lifting of leadership within the charity? There is nothing wrong with doing that for a good cause, but if this is the case, was this really an example of leadership of the highest order?

The inclusion of one pop star put me over the edge. I began to think, “Wait a minute. She’s really only leading a small group of people—her entourage. She may be successful at affecting them to accomplish t