Jun 08 2010
Leadership and “the ability to inspire willing action”
In that statement, emphasis is placed on the willing. But to understand leadership, we need to delve a little deeper than that.
One thing which experience has proven over and over again down through the ages, is that when any group of people are thrown together for any length of time or for any project, a leader will emerge from the group – one to whom they will listen and give their confidence and support.
Their position on the organisation chart or their title alone cannot make a person a genuine leader. They must have certain traits and skills, or they will surely fail.
In business, it has been shown again and again that these skills can be learned and the traits can be developed in any individual who is willing to exert an effort based on strong desire and a true hunger for success.
Generally, a leader or teacher does not actually “develop” another person. They encourage and inspire that person to develop themselves from within.
Thus, leadership is in a larger sense, self-initiated.
Once we understand and identify the methods and characteristics of admired leaders, we can take steps to develop these skills and traits ourselves. We can analyse ourselves – honestly, ruthlessly, objectively – and identify which skills we need to acquire or improve (and those which we need to play down).
No One Is Perfect!
The perfect leader has yet to be born. We all have room for self-improvement.
If we can agree upon what it takes to be a good leader – what are the traits of leadership, what are the skills – we will at least have made a good start.
We should analyze every genuine leader we know, and try to learn which qualities influenced us to consider them a good leader. We can probably agree upon at least five – you may have a leader in mind as we consider these:
My five? Oh, that’s easy:
Integrity – always comes first.
Courage
Vision
Communication skills, and last but not least….
Enthusiasm
Whether you are a leader or a follower, you will appreciate the significance of inspiritional leadership – won’t you?
What do you think?
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If we can agree upon what it takes to be a good leader – what are the traits of leadership, what are the skills – we will at least have made a good start.
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I totally agree and sadly it is hard to find great leaders in the work place. Throughout my career, I’ve come across very few that inspire and create enthusiasm or boundless loyalty. Often it is small simple things that make all the difference – an acknowledgement of good work ( once in a while), an understanding of our family lives and pressures, an involvement in coming up with ideas – thinking outside the box etc.; help and advice in tackling problems that arise…I think that often people at the top feel that if they show these traits they are showing a weakness or too much compassion – they think ruling with an iron hand incites harder workers – unfortunately the opposite is true.
I couldn’t agree more with you. That style of autocratic, humourless and insensitive leadership should be banned.
It is a topic very close to my heart.
Thank you for commenting.
Best
Jonathan