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"What is Leadership?"

- by Simon Hazeldine MSc BA (Hons) FInstSMM

(c) Simon Hazeldine. All Rights Reserved.

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WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

“Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a
vision that is well communicated, building trust among
colleagues, and taking effective action to realise your own
leadership potential.” - Warren Bennis

In modern organisations (both in the public and private
sector) there is a never ending quest for not only
sustained performance, but also for improved performance.
Because of these increasing demands it is becoming
increasingly common for people to discuss the importance
of, and the need for, ‘leadership’.

There is an almost implicit assumption that ‘leadership’
is a good thing for organisations to have. You only have
to look at the commercial world and the iconic figures of
leadership such as Jack Welch and Richard Branson to see
the connection between leadership and the commercial
success of an organisation.

And the pages of history are littered with famous people
who are regarded as great leaders e.g. Mahatma Ghandi,
Horatio Nelson and Winston Churchill to name but three.
Figures such as these are held up as being examples of the
importance of leadership.

This seemingly insatiable thirst for ‘leadership’ has
given rise to countless books promising to reveal the
‘secrets’ of leadership; a huge array of leadership
development programmes (with an estimated $60 billion
dollars being spent on leadership development globally)
and countless volumes of academic research.

But what on earth is ‘leadership’ and what is a ‘leader’?
The dictionary definition of a leader is ‘someone who
leads’. Hmm… not much help to be had from the dictionary!

Whilst there are many definitions of leadership available
a practical and workable summary is that effective leaders:

"Establish and provide vision and direction to
their organisation (or their part of an organisation).
They align people behind the vision and direction and then
inspire and motivate people to achieve what is required."

And never has this need for direction been more obvious.
We live in a rapidly and constantly changing world.
The waves of change sweeping our planet include
globalisation, demographic shifts and the impact of new
technology.

Whilst there has always been change in human history a
recent white paper from the McKinsey Society for
Organisational Learning stated:

“The pace of change is somehow faster, the frequency and
amplitude of restructuring and reforming are significantly
greater, and the pathways of emerging futures seem to be
less predictable than they were in earlier times.”

With this turbulence as a backdrop is it any wonder that
organisations are increasingly looking for strong leaders
to provide direction?

And whilst academics, management gurus, authors and
businesses will continue to argue and debate just what
‘leadership’ is, this is of little help in the here and
now reality that you operate in.

As a modern leader you need some practical and pragmatic
insight into what is commonly agreed upon as good
leadership, and how you can develop your own personal
ability as a leader.

It is my hope that this series of articles will provide at
least some food for thought about what leadership is, and
more importantly for you to develop your ability as a
leader.

It does not matter what sort of organisation you are part
of or at what level you work in your organisation. The
commonly held wisdom is that all organisations need
leaders, and they need them at all levels within the
organisation. Leadership is never solely the preserve of
the senior management in an organisation. Leaders can
and should exist throughout an organisation.

Perhaps your first step is to have clarity on your
own definition of leadership. And as a wise man once said,
"Anyone who knows anything about what leadership is,
knows that they don't know much about what leadership is."

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Simon Hazeldine is a best selling author, professional
speaker and performance consultant. He is passionate
about helping individuals and organisations improve
their performance.

Simon has run leadership development programs in over
15 countries across 4 continents.

Simon is the bestselling author of Bare Knuckle Selling,
BareKnuckle Negotiating, Bare Knuckle Customer Service
and The Inner Winner

For more valuable information on improving your
sales, profits and performance (including sample chapters
from all of Simon's best selling books) at zero cost to you
visit: http://www.simonhazeldine.com today!

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