Leadership is one of those familiar words we hear all the time that can be hard for us to define. What makes one person a leader and another person not a leader? What is leadership potential? Do people become leaders because of the job they have, or their personality, or through education?
How do leaders know they are leaders?
How much do we really understand about leadership?
What does leadership mean to us?
Many people define leadership in basic terms of influencing people to work toward common goals or tasks. Those definitions are technically accurate, but our understanding of leadership is deeper and richer. For example, people may try to influence others to work together through fear or intimidation.
Some people describe leadership by talking about various functions, such as planning or communication. There are skills and qualities that help people lead effectively, but they do not define what leadership means.
Leadership is more to us than what leaders do.
Leadership carries important symbolic meaning in our understanding. We expect leaders to feel what we feel, connect with us, and put our beliefs into words. We believe leadership depends on a sophisticated network of shared core values. We are generally unwilling to trust people who want to lead when we question whether they share our values.
Our understanding of leaders depends significantly on how well we perceive they know themselves. We are willing to trust leaders who are honestly themselves even when we might disagree with them. Their ability to know themselves and share their true selves with us helps bring out the best in us.
Leadership is not a set of skills people learn, but qualities they recognize and develop in themselves.
How do you define leadership?
Who are the leaders who inspire you?
[Image by Atos International]
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