What is leadership?

I have been fortunate to be in a leadership or management position since I have been 20, and 19 years later, a lot  of things have changed.

We have moved from a management approach to running a business to leadership, which is all the hype today. And for a good reason, and tongue in cheek, for the better.

So what is leadership?

Leadership can be hard to define and it means different things to different people.

Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organisation; and it is (should be) dynamic, exciting, and inspiring.

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.– Professor Warren G. Bennis
Instead of listing the differences between a manager/boss and a leader, I will focus more on helping you define what kind of leader you want to be, how to get there, and create leaders of your own.Although leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way. As leaders hone in on emotional intelligence to get the job done, the need for transformation to a leader is a process in its own right.Leadership expert James McGregor Burns introduced the concept of transformational leadership in his 1978 book, "Leadership." He defined transformational leadership as a process where "leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation."
Bernard M. Bass later developed the concept of transformational leadership further. According to his 1985 book, "Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations," this kind of leader:
  • Is a model of integrity and fairness.
  • Sets clear goals.
  • Has high expectations.
  • Encourages others.
  • Provides support and recognition.
  • Stirs the emotions of people.
  • Gets people to look beyond their self-interest.
  • Inspires people to reach for the improbable.

More than 25 years after Bass' book, transformational leadership is often argued to be one of the most important ideas in business leadership.
In the next post, we will start exploring the ideas around leadership styles, and how they can aid you in your day-to-day management in the work place.

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