Are You A Good Leader?
Photo credit to momo
Are you a good leader?
How do you judge whether you're good, OK, or not so great as a leader?
What is your 'true' definition of leadership anyway?
It's a difficult concept to nail down, though we feel we know it when we see it.
Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates. I think we'd all agree that they were (or are) great leaders. But all were different in their own way.
So what is leadership?
I think there's a few things that leadership certainly is.
Integrity. Alignment. Focus. Respect. Belief in the mission. Vision. Influence.
The last point is particularly relevant. Leadership is driven by ability to influence, and not by status, (granted) authority or the power that you have been given. There are enough examples of so-called leaders who are in the positions that they are in by virtue of office, but are unable to mobilize their support to do anything truly transformative. This is an important point. Because it also draws the distinction between great leadership and great management. Not the same thing.
It's also not about being liked. That's effectively irrelevant as an intent, as many would say was the case when it came to someone like Steve Jobs. People don't have to like you, but they do have to respect you, and align with you around the broader mission to be pursued and achieved (a different kind of 'like', I suppose).
I'm not so sure leadership is about personality traits such as extroversion (versus introversion), despite the conventional or common perception.
But it is about conveying a message effectively so that his or her target audience is mobilized for the greater good (whatever the focus of that good is).
Good leadership is difficult to define, and, as a result, it's complex to nail down. You can't prescribe for it. You can't teach it (per se).
But you can work towards it, practice it, develop it. And it starts with your vision, belief and single minded desire to achieve something.
So, let's ask the question again:
Are you a good leader?
