What Makes a Leader Stand Out?

Abstract

This study examines how leadership is interpreted, evaluated, and justified in an evaluative context by analyzing student assessments of award-winning leaders. The study is based on 232 student reports produced between 2017 and 2025 within a master- level leadership and communication course at Chalmers University of Technology. In the reports, students analyzed four leadership nominees using theoretical frameworks and justified which leader they considered most deserving of a leadership award. Using a qualitative, interpretive, and abductive research design inspired by Gioia methodology, the study identifies recurring leadership dimensions through open coding, thematic categorization, and frequency analysis. The findings are further compared to the Full Range Leadership Theory (FRLT), widely regarded as one of the most influential and widely applied frameworks in leadership research, in order to examine the extent to which the empirical findings align with or extend beyond these established frameworks. The findings show that leadership evaluations consistently emphasize dimensions related to vision and inspiration, relational leadership, empowerment and development, communication, authenticity and values, team and culture building, and leadership balance. While many of the recurring leadership dimensions aligned with FRLT, several important aspects extended beyond the traditional framework and some leadership aspects were found to be more dominating than others. In particular, students repeatedly emphasized coaching, delegation, societal purpose, psychological safety, availability, relational closeness, and developmental support, regardless of whether they explicitly used FRLT-related frameworks or alternative leadership theories. The findings also demonstrate that leadership dimensions were used both as positive and negative justifications, highlighting tensions between empowering and controlling leadership practices. The study contributes to leadership research by showing that while FRLT captures several leadership behaviors broadly associated with effective leadership, important relational and developmental dimensions as well as the dominance and tensions between dimensions remain underrepresented within the traditional framework. The findings therefore support previous critiques questioning whether FRLT can truly be considered a “full-range” theory of leadership and suggest that leadership evaluations in practice involve a broader set of dimensions than those explicitly represented in the model.