Leadership

Leadership

There are at least two things you can say about leadership without sounding stupid or exaggerating, 1) Leaders are important, and secondly 2) There is always a leadership crisis of one kind or another, at any given time; e.g. shortage or incompetence, evil, crooked, inadequate, you name it. As simplistic as these statements may sound, they are paramount to any study or discussion of leadership and its effectiveness. In this paper, I would like to elaborate upon some qualities of a good leader, the relationship between leaders and the followers, the difference between a leader and a manager, between leadership and authority, and finally touch upon the possible evils and misuse of power and leadership positions.

We have all heard that leaders are born and not made. I do not agree with this statement in the least. While some leadership qualities are innate to all people, the most notable leaders are churned out after years of experience and practice of certain skill-sets. Effective leaders are rare. They are created through the trials and tribulations of managing or working with people in a variety of settings. Most good leaders have had their fair share of hard knocks that awakened them to the greater potential within their scope of influence. Effective leaders are excellent communicators, able to speak the many languages of the individuals within the groups they lead. A good leader pays attention to the facts and then makes decisions based on objective analysis of those facts.

Effective leaders naturally motive people from their actions, which include showing respect, listening, reflecting, and negotiating through conflict. Leaders encourage and empower people to achieve success rather than place blame. Leaders have solid vision and unshakeable persistence in achieving a goal. Their efforts are empowered by their ability to manage and organize both activities and time in their busy schedules. A good leader is courageous, able to make decisions without hesitation, and maintains integrity of word and deed. Dependability is also a key trait for a leader must always be there for their group. Sound judgment and sensibility are also features of a leader, with loyalty, enthusiasm, endurance, and initiative rounding out the ever expanding list.

Comparing a manager with a leader can give us a better understanding of the latter. In the corporate world, the distinction between a manager and a leader can become quite murky. Not because there is a lack in understanding of the two, but because many times the two roles are interchangeable or integrated. Many managers are thrust upon with the responsibility to lead their subordinates, while business leaders shine through and end up in management positions. There are, however, some clear differences between the two in any organization. Managers likes to do things right, they promote efficiency, they are always recovering from change and promote similitude of ideas, they have answers and ‘to do’ lists. Leaders on the other hand like to do the right things, they like change and are not happy if it is not a change for the better. Leaders, instead of having answers for their subordinates, have questions that implore them to think for themselves and find new and better answers on their own.

Managers are good at doing ordinary things well, at organizing, planning problem solving and being competent. Leaders do the extraordinary things, and are good at pioneering directions and are inspirational and motivating. While the manager will ensure that ‘today’ ends on a good note, the leader will have a bigger picture and ensure that there is a ‘bright’ tomorrow for his or her organization and followers. This is not to say that leaders may not be good managers, but that leadership is something else. The difference between leadership and management, is that managers deal in efficiency and leaders in effectiveness. That said, by differentiating management from leadership, I do not mean to imply that one or the other be ignored or is redundant. Rather we should recognize the important differences between them, to better able to exercise them appropriately in a given situation, because leadership must involve both vision and implementation.

In continuing the same thought, it is interesting to look at this study as a difference between leadership and authority. The most obvious question that an outer-space alien will ask the first person it meets on this earth is going to be: Who is in charge here? Therein lies the