Connective leadership for the 21st century: a historical perspective and future directions.

Health care reform, layoffs, and hospital closures have created substantial stress for both nursing leadership and nursing staff. History suggests that nursing staff and leaders have not felt closely aligned and mutually supportive. An environment that provides a means for renewal of caregivers and administrators is needed to sustain caring practice. A new leadership paradigm, connective leadership, is proposed to address the problems of the past. Connective leaders, by empowering staff at all levels, facilitate the collaboration and synergism needed in the reformed health care environment of the future.