Developing True Leadership Ability

Describing authentic leadership and the skill-set that goes with it is a little easier than acquiring it. This is because true leadership involves developing personal qualities that extend far behind conventional autocratic values, and enabling other people to become what they ought to be too.

Traditionally there may be four types of leaders in any situation.

o    The first are formal leaders who obtain their authority by virtue of their position, be it as business owner or appointed manager. These people generally have a long term vision for the firm.

o    The second form of leadership is situational. Here we are talking about heroes who seize the hour, but also sometimes fools that groups elect to follow in what sociologists call a risky-shift decision. Their vision is short-lived, and they easily drop balls and move on to other things.

o    Sapiental leaders are people whom others follow because of the attitudes, knowledge and experience they possess. They seldom if ever aspire to positional authority. Their only objective is to get things right.

o    Natural leaders are people whom other follow because they are seen to be both wise, and caring for those who help them achieve their goals

In practice, most leaders are a combination of all four types with one or other factor dominant. Some truly great leaders have a powerful combination of all four. To fully comprehend this, compare how Winston Churchill lead his nation through dark days, with George Bush’s gung-ho response to the Twin Towers incident.

True leadership is about people. It is not just about harnessing their potential though. It also carries with it an awesome responsibility for how a subordinate’s career may unfold with support and care. Employees sense the difference between those managers who have this take on life, and those who do not. They will give everything for the former, but often do as little as possible for the latter.

I believe that all of us bear this gift of caring, although in many cases it was beaten out us (especially males) in childhood, or dispensed with in the cut and thrust of business as a weak sign. I believe we become lesser people as we distance ourselves from concepts like integrity, honesty, humility and personal courage to be ourselves, and that we need to reignite them.

For this reason I refuse to regard leadership as a skill-set to be learned, or to treat it as the exclusive inheritance of the fortunate few. Leadership is about regarding people with whom we share life’s journey with the same respect that we hunger for ourselves. Choosing the right employees for a task is definitely a skill, guiding and developing them is a gift.