What Does Leadership Mean to You: Listen, Ask & Conducting Assessment

Introduction

There are many varieties of leader in action, both good and bad. Not everyone is given a chance to be a leader, not every leader is good. "What does it mean to be a leader?" is the primary question of this essay. What does leadership mean to you? How to be a good leader or what is the essence of being a good leader? How to be a role model? What must be the qualities of being a good leader? What are the characteristics a good leader should possess? If I am asked to define what leader is I would define it as the person who leads or commands a group, organization or country.

Define Leadership in Your Own Words

Lately I have really been focused on what leadership means to me. Many times when I come across the word leader I see the word follower attached. In my opinion, leadership is not about attracting others to follow. To me, at least, this conveys a sense of power, authority, and control that might serve well in the short term by getting others to fall into line through conformity, but it doesn’t create the conditions necessary for sustaining change. I believe the definition of a good leader and resulting perception of the term leader needs a makeover.

"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things". (Reagan, R.2017)

Great leaders don’t tell people what to do, but instead take them to where they need to be. There is no agenda to create a harem of followers or disciples. True leaders know that their success is intimately tied to the work of the collective. One person doesn’t win a war, election. It is a team approach where each person in the organization knows that he or she has an important role to play. I can also say with certainty that one person doesn’t single handedly build a successful business. This same principle definitely applies to schools and districts. As I have written in the past, leadership is all about action, not position.

The command and control types who closeted themselves in their ivory towers – ruling by fear and intimidation – were the worst to work with or for. They were also the most ineffective. They usually didn’t know what was really going on in their organizations. They didn’t learn and grow from their experiences. And their organizations inevitably suffered from low morale, poor productivity and high turnover. Being A leader is a great opportunity but not every leader has a good characteristics and for that it is a big challenge for him. Being a good leader is the one who serve and not to be served. Being a good leader is the one who take risks for the benefit of others but at the same time listens to his Subordinates opinions. No leader can do everything by him or herself. Everything can change in a heartbeat. As such, leaders must embrace a sense of flexibility and openness to change accordingly in certain cases. The ability to adapt to an array of situations, challenges, and pressures are pivotal to accomplish goals. As leaders adapt they evolve into better leaders. The basic essence of leadership is its purpose. You will never be a good leader if you don’t know how to lead, and if you don’t know what’s your purpose in leading. A great leader leads from the front and never asks others to do what he is not willing to do himself. Yet all too often we expect determination, reliability, focus, accountability, integrity and a host of other qualities in others without first making sure we have these traits in ourselves. The best leaders do not lead by coercion or persuasion.

"Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers". I agree with this quotation said by (Sharma, R. 2010)

Because it’s true leadership isn’t just about the title it’s about the impact you can give to others, it’s about how you influence them to do better or how to influence them to fulfill the goal or advocacy of the team. It’s about giving them inspiration that anyone can be a leader, an inspiration to never give up on that certain goal, an inspiration that everyone will remember. Being a leader doesn’t mean that you command and command and command being a leader is you do it together with your team and you are the motivator of the team. As a leader, you should stand up for the team.

I think talent is better than personality because if you don’t have the talent how would you lead your team. If you don’t have the talent how can you influence your team to strive harder, how would you influence others to be better and how would you motivate your team to give the best they can. Also if you don’t have the talent how would you preach your advocacy to others if you yourself can’t do what you are preaching. I chose talent because you can learn how to be nice to others by just joining them and I believe that everyone has a good heart. Also there is no leader that is selfish and always think about themselves only. Having the talent is a great advantage to other leaders. Also being a leader means being transparent. Transparent in a ways that you can fit in to the people in your team, understanding their flaws and shortcomings. Being a leader means you dedicate your life and yourself to your goal, advocacy and team. Being a leader means loyalty. Leadership is not about how many trophies you have won, it’s not about how many creditable acts you have made. Leadership is about how you achieve the advocacy of the team, the friendship and family you have created but most important is the lesson you’ve got while achieving the goal.

Conclusion

So what does leadership mean to you? This essay argues that if you want to be an effective leader, study and learn about your best leadership tool; yourself. Reflect upon the impact your interactions have on others. Listen to the feedback others offer on your behavior and style. Ask for candid feedback on your leadership. Take every opportunity to conduct assessments of your personality and style through the use of valid instruments. Working to understand and develop yourself will pay huge dividends when you are put into that leadership role.