Leader legitimacy – a matter of education? Leading Highly Specialised People – A Legitimacy Challenge

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and share some practical insights on how leaders can seek legitimacy when leading highly specialized/highly educated people from other educational backgrounds than their own.

Based on an initial literature review on leader legitimacy, this paper distills three strategies for strengthening leader legitimacy that can apply to leaders of organizations employing highly specialized/highly educated people.

If these strategies are applied, leaders leading people from other educational backgrounds than their own will strengthen their possibilities for being perceived legitimate leaders. Further, for recruiters of leaders, awareness about the legitimacy challenge is an important step in choosing the “right” person for the job. For educational institutions and organizers of organizational-internal leader development programs, the strategies are important to consider when preparing and planning teaching on leadership.

Research was based on a systematic literature review on leader legitimacy and the findings result from an initial categorizing.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical approaches with the potential to enhance leader and business effectiveness and informing leader-education approaches. The paper bridges theory and practice for leaders, recruiters of leaders and leader-education institutions.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by presenting pertinent information in a condensed and practice-oriented format.