Discusses and analyzes current state of leadership; discourses that inform and shape leadership literature, what practices leaders engage in, mistakes they make and why, and what the institution of leadership has come to become in our age. The study aims to offer a contemporary, yet retrospective critique of leadership. The intent is to illustrate the parochial nature of influential literature on the subject as well to highlight the discrepancies between the discourses on the subject, and their actual enactment. We intend to provide a comprehensive understanding of the notion of leaders and leadership from a more socio-economic perspective. It is hoped that this work stimulates a constructive debate on the role leaders play in our society; the relationship between leaders and ordinary people; and how does it impact our society.