What’s Leadership?

What is Leadership?

The concept of leadership has changed through the years, it has become more elaborate, adapting to the necessities of the culture and the time we are living.

According to the merriam-webster dictionary leadership is :

lead·er·ship

: a position as a leader of a group, organization, etc.

: the time when a person holds the position of leader

: the power or ability to lead other people

In my opinion is a broad and shallow definition about a powerful concept that has ruled the story of humanity.

There are 3 factors that influence a leading position

Leadership skills

Structure

Strategy

But how they work together?

For many years, strategy and structure has been considered a separately. The truth is that this is not the way it should be approach them.

Structure is composed for all the assets and elements that create an organization; people, culture, positions, equipment etc.  The strategy has to be fully integrated to the organizations to create a powerful force and thus achieve the better results.

Someone could have important leadership skills but it wont get far without a solid structure and a founded strategy.

Years ago, the common belief was that a leader was a kind of a “divine character”, always was the head of the organization, someone who dictated what to do and people listened and followed him.

Results have shown that leaders could be in any position and at everywhere.  A true leader knows how to inspire and motivate the ones that surrounds him. This person is the one that values the importance of the structure; manage a tailor strategy, always in favor of a common good.

A true leader recognizes the power of group work; he/she doesn’t pursue hs personal growth. He seeks to grow through the growth of the others.

A more accurate leader definitions are

"Leadership revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to do with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation. A leader must be able to leverage more than his own capabilities. He must be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist.”

Bennis, W. ‘On Becoming a Leader’ Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing, (1989, p.139)

"Leadership is a development of a clear and complete system of expectations in order to identify evoke and use the strengths of all resources in the organization the most important of which is people.”

Batten, J.D. ‘Tough-minded Leadership’ New York: AMACOM (1989 p. 35)

Source: http://adeoyemayowaleadership.blogspot.com/

Through this blog we will try to uncover the mysteries behind leadership and the unique skills that this outstanding persons possess.

If you want to know what makes a leader? Daniel Goleman can give us a better idea of what to expect.