What is Leadership?

by Victor Rival

Article Rating: 4

This artilcle looks at the difference between leadership and management. I give example of great leaders from our past. I look at the skill necessary for leading...

I've been around many great leaders from many different organizations and I can not give an answer the clearly defines what is leadership? Wikipedia's definition is. Leadership is and has been described as the "developmentof social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". A better definition is "leadership is difinitively about making a way for a group to take part in making incredible things happen." This definition is broad, but i agree with it. A captain in the military is a leader but his influence is usually based on his rank not his power of pursuation.Gandhi was a great leader and he led hindreds of thousands, just with influence.
Leaders must do these task. Leaders have to make the one following them feel sercure, and have a set of beliefs. How can leaders do this? Here are 6 great examples.

1. futurist: A leader brings a vision to the group. It's a plan by which others can FOLLOW. This vision brings the followers the emotion of hope and something the followers can strive to achieve. The vision should be clear and the leader should stand up for what the leader believes in.
"A leader is a dealer in hope" - Napoleon Bonaparte

2. Positive: No one wants to follow a negative person. Leaders do not have to be positive all the time but the have to represent a sense of positivity.This is really important when things are difficult.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

3. Audacity: A leader has to be strong. Everyone is not meant to be a leader. Some people are better suited to follow and that is fine. Leadership is for a select few.

4. Empowering People: By nature people desire to do a good job. They want to be successful and please others. Leaders make that possible, through developing confident and empowerment in those being led.

5. consistent: Leaders have to be responsible and dependable. Reliability is most important, if not this creates doubts in the followers to the leaders commitment to the cause. I can't find a citation, but historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was recently on The Daily Show. She stated that during the Great Depression and during FDR's tenure a citizen once said something to the effect of "I don't have any money, don't have a job, and I don't have a reason to live, but I keep on going because I know FDR is there."
"Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too." - Robert Half

6. Motivation: The above characteristics is mandatory to lead , otherwise the led will be motivated. Leaders need a dream for the led to hold on to so that they will not get lost in the hope of achieving the task at hand. Below is some characteristics comparing leaders to managers.
" Managers administer; leaders innovate.
" Managers ask how and when; leaders ask what and why.
" Managers focus on systems; leaders focus on people.
" Managers do things right; leaders do the right things.
" Managers maintain; leaders develop.
" Managers rely on control; leaders inspire trust.
" Managers have short-term perspective; leaders have long-term perspective.
" Managers accept the status-quo; leaders challenge the status-quo.
" Managers have an eye on the bottom line; leaders have an eye on the horizon.
" Managers imitate; leaders originate.
" Managers emulate the classic good soldier; leaders are their own person.
" Managers copy; leaders show originality.
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What do you think about the 6 characteristics of leadership I've given? Do you have any to add?

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