A critical account of the rise and spread of 'leadership': The case of UK healthcare

▸ The term 'leadership' is used more and more in policy relating to health-service management and other activities. ▸ Not just managers, but frontline clinicians and even patients are now portrayed as 'leaders'. ▸ This notion of dispersed leadership contradicts academic accounts of increasing centralisation of power by policy makers. ▸ The rise of leadership might be seen as an attempt to align the subjectivities of clinicians and others with policy aims.