What is leadership, and what makes a good leader?

Introduction

Despite the misconception that leadership means delivering commands to those around you, it actually serves as a source of empowerment for others to succeed for both the business and themselves. Making judgments that benefit the organisation as a whole or its objectives rather than just one individual is another aspect of it.

Many people associate leadership with positions of power, wealth, and notoriety. Leadership, however, is not a real position or title. In reality, it has to do with your behaviour and the example you create for others.

What is leadership?

Having the power to influence others is what it means to be a leader. Leadership entails motivating others to fulfil certain objectives, whether you are in charge of a family, a team, or a company. You have the choice of active or passive leadership, as well as whether to prioritise involvement or merely output. It’s important to help others grow when leading.

Successful leadership paves the way for followers to follow. It sets a direction, creates a vision, and makes adjustments as needed. Finding the areas where your team or organisation needs to “win” is the essence of leadership. It’s vibrant, thrilling, and motivating.

As previously mentioned, leadership involves developing and communicating a vision as well as inspiring people to strive towards that vision. However, it’s possible that leaders lack the expertise or involvement in day-to-day work management required to make the vision a reality.

What is the difference between a leader and a manager?

Management and leadership are not the same things. Do you have P&L duties and 15 employees under your downline? Congratulations! I hope you make a good manager. Effective management is necessary. In addition to many other tasks, managers must plan, measure, monitor, coordinate, resolve, hire, and fire employees. Managers typically control things. Managers lead people.

What about titles and leadership?

Titles have no bearing on leadership.

Similar to the previous statement, merely holding a C-rank title does not entitle you to the title of “leader”. You don’t need a title to lead. In actuality, you don’t need a title to be a leader in your place of worship, your community, or your family.

One of Donald McGannon’s well-known quotations is, “Leadership is action, not position.”

Leadership is about the actions we decide to take, not about the part we play in the organisation. Everything is dependent on decisions and actions. You can be a leader without a title; it just takes a leadership mentality, regardless of your position in the organisation. It is obvious if a leader regards their position as “simply a job.”

You need the correct motivation if you want to lead effectively. Do you genuinely want to motivate people to be their best, or are you more concerned with money and status?

The key takeaways

Many people associate leadership with positions of power, wealth, and notoriety. Leadership, however, is not a real position or title. It has to do with your behaviour and the example you create for others.

Leadership is developing and communicating a vision as well as inspiring people to strive towards that vision.

One of Donald McGannon’s well-known quotations is, “Leadership is action, not position.”

Managers typically control things. Leaders lack the expertise or involvement in day-to-day management required to make the vision a reality.

You don’t need a title to be a leader, regardless of your position in the organisation.