Scholars hold different perspectives about leadership which are not limited to a formally appointed leader. Of the abundance of terms used to describe this phenomenon, shared and distributed are the most prevalent. These terms are often used interchangeably, resulting in confusion in the way that shared and distributed leadership is conceptualized and investigated. This paper provides a historical development of this field, challenges existing conceptions and reveals inconsistencies and contradictions that are seldom acknowledged. Four distinct approaches to the study of shared and distributed leadership are identified in the literature, each embracing different ontological views and leadership epistemologies. Individually, the four approaches offer valuable -yet partial -understanding. Comparing and contrasting the assumptions and insights from the four approaches raises fundamental issues about how we think about leadership in terms of research, practice and development.

Role models are often identified as important for aspiring managers as they seek insights into how to develop themselves in their careers. There are, however, still few female role models at the top of companies. This project explores how young careerminded women use role models. It draws on previous research into how professionals experimented with their identity projections to become partners in US professional service firms. In-depth interviews with ten young professional women revealed that they actively draw on role models from different domains. In some cases, the role models were personally known to the individual women, whilst in other cases, they were personally unknown to them. The women revealed that they preferred to use the learning from external role models rather than focus on individual women from the top of their own professions. This research adds richness to our understanding of young female managers' use of role models, and contributes up-todate empirical evidence in a field which has been somewhat neglected in recent years.

In this paper, we address two different types of crises. The first one refers to a crisis in the leadership development literature. We suggest that its resolution lies in focusing on the leadership concept — the schemata that organizations have embedded in their culture about leadership. We believe that the role of leadership development is to renew these assumptions, so that they reflect the new challenges organizations face. The second type of crisis refers to the pragmatic challenges facing organizations. We suggest that the context of crisis provides ideal circumstances for promoting changes in the leadership concept, as schemata are then more malleable. In addition, we argue that sensemaking may be a possible mechanism for renewing the leadership concept due to its role in schemata changes during times of ambiguity and uncertainty, such as those of crisis.

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The research reported here was part of a UK government initiative to improve management and leadership capability. Corporate leadership development was one element of this initiative. The researchers, also the authors of this paper, were tasked with developing a best practice guide in leadership development. The aim was to establish current best UK corporate practice in order to inform similar organizations striving to improve their approach to leadership development. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of this inquiry as an example of Mode 2 research, i.e. that which is co-produced with practitioners in a rigorous yet actionable way. The paper addresses operational issues by exploring the tensions inherent in Mode 2 research and makes some additions to previous literature on conducting Mode 2 research. It introduces the notion of technological rules derived from the concept of management research as design science, which enables the authors to articulate the way in which output can be developed in a form readily acceptable to end users of Mode 2 research. Actionable research products and accompanying dissemination issues are proposed as central operational concerns for Mode 2 research.