Leadership is/are...
- anyone who holds him or herself responsible or accountable for finding potential in people or processes.
- the ones who run headfirst in to the unknown. They rush towards danger.
- the ability to inspire a team to achieve a certain goal.
- ...
Just three definitions of leadership by three major speakers on the topic. Can you guess which quote belongs to whom? I'll provide the answer at the end of this post.
Whenever I meet someone who is active in the area of organisational change, leadership, or personal development I ask them about their definition of leadership. Because while we all agree that leadership is important, we can't seem to define it into something that we all agree upon. And that makes applying healthy leadership more challenging.
Because we can talk about leadership until we're blue in the face, rattle off critical stances and/or styles of effective leadership, but typically leaders only take note of these descriptions and get on with it. That is not to say that this is the best way to lead, it is merely my impression when working with leaders. They'd rather ask a peer for their insights and advice than follow another leadership course, let alone read a full book on the topic.
In my opinion we should consider the massive influence of the individual who is in leadership. Context of the work, individual preferences, and personal lessons learned often make up for more impact than another popularised research paper defining leadership (please HBR, we've had it with the stances, etc.). Take into account the individual biases and work pressure at play and you'll start to see just how difficult it is to apply leadership.
One of the best definitions that I've heard on leadership came from someone who was in charge of several leadership academies. His definition:"Leadership is seeing what's coming up in the future and acting upon it." Personally, I would like to add the importance of investing in self-awareness. Considering how your attitude, communication, and actions carry over to others is a great first step in developing leadership.
Let's stop trying to define leadership, and instead use our time to recognize and acknowledge the person in the lead. Start with self-awareness, talk about their wishes and desires for the organisation, and how their individual communication and actions can contribute to that.
And now for the answers you were obviously dying to hear: Brené Brown, Simon Sinek, and Tony Robbins.