Heifetz argues that the role of the leader is to help people face reality and to mobilise them to make change.

Heifetz suggests that the old approach to leadership was that leaders had the answers, the vision and then needed to persuade people to sign up for the change. Heifetz believes that leaders provide direction but do not have to offer definite answers and should mobilise people to tackle the tough challenges for themselves.

In addition, Heifetz suggested that anyone within an organisation may have to provide some degree of leadership in certain circumstances. This means that leaders may simply emerge, rather than being formally appointed by the organisation. This is referred to as 'dispersed leadership'.

 This is an example of a contingency approach to leadership.