This phenomenological study of the lived experience of leadership emergence was initiated to answer the question, "Where does leadership come from?" Leadership emergence was explored as the result of a nexus of contextual and structural influences. In response to these questions, a sample of leaders from a metropolitan area in a Southwestern state were interviewed using an opened-ended, qualitative process. The interview data were reviewed and analyzed via the Moustakas modified van Kaam method of transcendental phenomenological analysis. The findings of the study supported a number of independent theoretical aspects as factors of leadership emergence and revealed that leadership emergence is fundamental to the presence of four essences that represent the origins of leadership in the sample. These essences presented themselves as phenomena in the data and were classified as deontology, belief systems, patterns, and personal knowledge. In application, these essences represented two parallel or helix timelines of the pre-factors of leadership creation. In representation of these pre-leadership essences, models depicting linear pre-leadership development were developed from the findings, and kinetic leader motivations, personal drivers and external influences creating a nexus of factors for leadership development were illustrated from the study's finding. The study added to the body of knowledge in its unique application of the modified van Kaam methodology to an emerging leadership study and in identification of the potential roots of leadership. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]