As a political leader, we can refer to Napoleon Bonaparte and his actions as First Consul and Emperor of the French. The shared goal with his followers was to promote the French Revolution ideals in Europe through continental domination and, at the same time, to bring glory to the country and its army. Napoleon's soldiers, the 'followers', believed in the ideals of French supremacy and glory in Europe and fought for 20 years to achieve it, from Spain to Russia.
As a community leader, Martin Luther King is an example of how the interests of a community (in this case of a minority) could be promoted and defended through direct action. Again, the social component is very important in characterizing this leadership example, as well as the common objectives that the followers and leader strived to achieve.
As a religious leader, Mohammed is the best example of the social interaction between leader and followers to achieve common goals. The common goals were the propagation of Islam as the most important religion in the world. Even today, following Koran verses, a Muslim will strive to impose his religion and to convert non-Muslims. He is also an excellent example of how a powerful leader was able to increase his number...
Microsoft is presently an incredible social organism that strives to achieve common goals such as a constant development of new it resources and the capacity to promote these for every individual consumer. Even during the forming years, during the 1980s, Bill Gates's goals had been to create a product that would be accessible to all using a personal computer.
Adding to this very encompassing definition that has been presented here, I would also mention characteristics that leaders and followers need to have. As such, a leader will need to be charismatic, visionary and with strong social skills, while the followers will need to be highly motivated and to believe in the common objectives, besides being members of an organized group.
On the other hand, the idea of initiative could be included in the definition and it could be debated whether both the leader and the follower or just the leader will need to have initiative in their actions.
