It became apparent from analysis of the data that the leadership categories as presented, that is political, executive,
academic and clinical were limited in an attempt to understand them as distinct and exclusive threads of leadership activity. Although participants found it relatively easy to place their role primarily within a specific category (Figure 1), further discussion revealed that the categories were not solely role specific. A consistent characteristic of the leaders was their ability to use the knowledge and skills associated with different categories within their sphere of influence. So, for example, a clinical leader who identified themselves as primarily influencing the clinical category, would often draw upon the knowledge and skills they associated with the political, academic and management categories in order to do so.