The need for effective and decisive leadership is vital to the success of all events and the ability to understand the variety and complexities of leadership specific to this field is key. Leadership and management is not the same, and the qualities and actions of leaders are distinct from those of effective managers. This book examines, contextualizes and applies leadership theory and practice at several levels. Using a wide range of contemporary research, the volume explores in detail a range of leadership theories, providing insight into the developments that are driving leadership today. In light of the complex business needs of event organizations and in order to illustrate the concepts discussed, examples of case studies from the event sector are used throughout. Providing a comprehensive grounding in leadership theory, this book explores leadership in events from three distinct viewpoints using various event settings and types of events to illustrate: "The leader" within event organizations: looking at leaders who are founders, or those that have been appointed, elected, evolved from other positions or emerged from a crisis - all of which have their own issues and effects; leadership within the events community, such as political leadership or leaders within event portfolios and networks: questioning what does it take to achieve effective collaboration among events and between events and other key stakeholders? Is it the individual leader, or leadership that emerges from network dynamics?; and the leadership role that events and professional organizations play in society, such as educational and inspirational leadership - looking at social marketing through events, with the aims of changing attitudes and behavior.