The Many Aspects of Leadership

Leadership has many aspects.  Four important aspects of leadership are:

1. Leadership must be earned
2. Leadership involves a multitude of activities
3. Leadership is the modeling of values
4. Leadership is being accepted as the leader by the group members

Leadership must be earned

A most important aspect of leadership is leadership must be earned.  David Cottrell in his book Listen Up Leader reminds us: “Leadership can’t be claimed like luggage at the airport.  Leadership can’t be inherited, even though you may inherit a leadership position.  There are no manufacturing plants that fabricate leadership.  And leadership can’t be given as a gift – even if you’ve been blessed with an abundance of leadership skills to share with someone else.  Leadership must be earned by mastering a defined set of skills and by working with others to achieve common goals.” [1]

Leadership is earned in a variety of ways.  Being successful is certainly one way to earn respect as a leader.  Followers want to be a part of success and when a leader leads a group to success, group members give greater allegiance to the leader.

Leadership is also earned through the manner in which a leader treats his followers.  As a leader shows respect and support for his followers, as he stands by them, as he encourages them, and as he clearly directs their paths, group members will submit and commit to the leader’s agenda.

Leadership involves a multitude of activities

A second aspect of leadership is leadership involves a multitude of varied activities.  Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in their book In Search of Excellence describe leadership as “…many things.  It is patient, usually boring coalition building.  It is the purposeful seeding of cabals that one hopes will result in the appropriate ferment in the bowels of the organization.  It is meticulously shifting the attention of the institution through the mundane language of management systems.  It is altering agendas so that new priorities get enough attention.  It is being visible when things are going awry, and invisible when they are working well.  It’s building a loyal team at the top that speaks more or less with one voice.  It’s listening carefully much of the time, frequently speaking with encouragement, and reinforcing words with believable action.  It’s being tough when necessary, and it’s the occasional naked use of power – or the ‘subtle accumulation of nuances, a hundred things done a little better,’ as Henry Kissinger once put it.  Most of these actions are what the political scientist James MacGregor Burns in his book Leadership calls ‘transactional leadership.’  They are the necessary activities of the leader that take up most of his or her day.” [2]