Leadership for non-leaders - Leadership Definitions

My third blog on this topic focuses on the definition of leadership. It seems like a logical next step in the discussion of the concept of leadership.

So what exactly is leadership, how is it defined?

While I was contemplating and working on the content of this blog, I came across an article by Kevin Kruse (2013) on this topic. He couldn’t have said it better and instead of trying to re-invent the wheel, I hereby acknowledge that the majority of the content and flow is attributable to him. I have added my own comments and thoughts in areas. His full article can be found here.

The action of leading a group of people or an organisation, says the dictionary. This definition seems reasonable at first glance, but it uses leading to describe leadership, which in the case of trying to define what leadership is, is not helpful, in my opinion.

• "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers." (Peter Drucker)

• "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” (Warren Bennis)

• "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." (Bill Gates)

• "Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less." (John Maxwell)

Kevin Kruse adds comments to these definitions that provoke thoughts and consideration. Being critical is definitely a leadership skill and being critical of content written by well-known authors further requires self-esteem and self-confidence. Have a look at the leadership qualities in the previous blog to see if these are in there.

Military troops have to follow their commanding offer - does that make the officer a leader? Or is that person a commander? Kevin Kruse definitely has a point there. If Peter Drucker’s words are meant that a leader requires people that can be lead, then that is correct too. Being alone on a remote island doesn’t make that person a leader, but it requires personal leadership to survive.

The definition of translating a vision into reality is much more to my liking. But then again, I have a garden and it’s true, I have a vision for my garden; with lots of work that vision could turn into a reality. And who would I lead, my flowers and veggies? In essence, I am a gardener. Bear with me, I am trying to make a point here.

Empowerment is without doubt important for leadership and leading. I enjoyed working for an empowering manager and yet I asked myself occasionally, like Kevin pointed to, what was I empowered to do, what was the goal or vision that I or we were working towards? Empowering me to do the job I was hired to do seems like a very self-serving and circular argument. Having said that, I had great empowering managers and will get to that later.

Oh, and influence. Of course, without influence, we can’t convince or guide people. The question here is what do we influence with? If the influence comes from a position of power, like a manager has over their team or a teacher over the students (again as per Kevin’s article), the decision of the influenced recipient is not necessarily one of free will nor a movement towards a shared goal.

In summary, the points Kevin Kruse is making here is that leadership does not necessarily have something to do with titles, seniority or position in a hierarchy. And many of us can attest to that. And it isn’t management. And that is not at all taking away from managers, they are absolutely critical and good management is a skill not to be discounted. However, we tend to want to manage people, when actually we manage processes and things. We don’t manage people, we lead people.

And here are some other leadership definitions.

• "Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximises the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal." (Kevin Kruse)

• "Being a great leader is all about having a genuine willingness and a true commitment to lead others to achieve a common vision and goals through positive influence. No leader can ever achieve anything great or long-lasting all alone. Teamwork goes hand in hand with leadership. Leadership is about people-and for people." (John Maxwell)

What is your definition of leadership? Do any of the above resonate with you? Do you disagree?

I don’t proclaim to have the answer to the concept of leadership, but I know how I want to show up as a leader and I know what I want in a leader.

Leave your comments below and come back next week to find out more about my leadership journey and how you too can be a leader in your own right - if that is what you want to be and how you want to live your life. The choice is yours. If you can’t wait until next week, send me an email.