Defining Leadership
What is it that makes a good leader?
“Leadership is not a position or a title; it is action and example.” - Cory Booker
Leadership is present in all areas of life.
The most obvious examples are on the battlefield, at the head of a successful company or as the captain of a sports team.
We expect it to be loud and boisterous. To be behind the biggest personalities.
It can be, but it can also be quiet and unassuming.
Leadership is present in the small, everyday occurrences first and foremost. It is a practice like any other. It comes more naturally to some, but anyone can develop the capacity to lead.
Below I will delve into the main characteristics I believe all great leaders have.
Responsibility
In their book “Extreme Ownership”, which I wrote about a little while back in a two-part series (Part 1 & Part 2), Jocko Willink and Leif Babin write about the most important aspect of leadership: the ability to take ownership of the situation.
Leadership, first and foremost, is taking responsibility in a situation regardless of whether others do. It is about finding a solution to a problem and taking steps to solve it.
In their book, Jocko and Leif would refer to this as “Extreme Ownership”.
Taking responsibility as a leader does not mean taking on everything yourself. In your search for a solution, you may delegate roles, ask for help, work with others, but a leader will ensure the right things get done by the right people.
Both Jocko and Leif highlight many instances in their book where they and the soldiers above and below them in the command structure took ownership when it was needed (I would highly recommend reading Extreme Ownership).
Listen
One of the most crucial skills of a leader is the capacity to listen patiently while others speak.
If we cannot hear others' opinions and fears without triggering some form of emotional response, then we cannot lead.
Luckily, listening can be learned, so too can emotional control over one’s triggers.
Nelson Mandela was a famously good listener. He would ask questions and seek to understand the views and opinions of others, especially those with whom he disagreed. In his autobiography, he wrote about how he learned to listen from the chief regent of the tribe he grew up in, who would allow everyone to speak while he listened before he would speak.
Mandela has said: "A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead."
A leader must listen carefully and hear what others are and aren’t saying before ever adding their input.
Inspire
Inspiration comes in many forms; when asked about inspirational leaders, we tend to think of people who pull off some impressive feat of will or endurance.
Or maybe as a great orator who makes an inspiring speech and rallies people behind a cause or an idea.
It can be, but it can also be quiet and determined.
The character Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe in the movie Gladiator, is a great example of a quiet, strong leader who leads through action, consistency and principle.
Having once been a general, he is stripped of everything and ends up a slave, fighting to survive as a gladiator.
It is his will, his ability to fight, to organise, to take responsibility and above all, how he inspires those around him that gains him the love of the people and the loyalty of those who fight with him.
Learn
Every great leader must be able to learn, to be humble enough to understand what they don’t know.
That will allow them to listen to others and learn from them.
It doesn’t matter their age or experience; there is always something that we can learn from others.
A great leader recognises that, asks questions and increases their knowledge base.
Katharine Graham was thrust into leadership when she had to take control of the Washington Post after the death of her husband. Having grown up in a world where she had never lacked for anything or had to undertake any major responsibility.
She decided that she had to learn as much as she could about the business if she was to stand any chance of keeping it alive.
So she asked questions, delved deeply into her business and the industry and would become one of the most influential leaders in Media as a result.
Humility
I’ve alluded to it already.
A leader without humility will never be nearly as effective as they could be. They may be able to achieve some level of success, but they will always come up against a brick wall as their own inadequacies hinder their progress.
Never being able to see their shortcomings, they will constantly fall prey to the same weaknesses.
They won’t be able to truly inspire those around them, as it is through humility that we are drawn to people.
Napoleon Bonaparte is a great example of an individual who lost his humility as his career progressed. He was one of the greatest military geniuses in history and rose to become Emperor of the French Republic.
His ability to learn and adapt in his early career led to some incredible and unlikely victories, but as time passed and he began to further believe his own myth, Napoleon stopped listening to others and felt like he knew better.
It eventually would lead to his incredibly damaging failed invasion of Russia, which would set him on course to ruin and his final defeat at Waterloo.
“True leaders are hardly known to their followers. Next come leaders the people know and admire. Then come leaders who are feared. The worst are leaders who are despised... The best leaders' work is done, their aim fulfilled, the people say: 'We did it ourselves.” - Lao Tzu
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