Senior executive left dishes everywhere, riling leaders (5)
I believe the answer is:
elder
'senior' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'executive left dishes everywhere riling leaders' is the wordplay.
'leaders' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'executive left dishes everywhere riling' is 'ELDER'.
(Other definitions for elder that I've seen before include "Shrub with white flowers and berrylike fruit" , "Senior type of tree?" , "Senior member - plant" , "Kind of tree or senior person in tribe" , "Tree - having lived longer" .)