What is Leadership?

What is leadership? Leadership is the skill of motivating individuals to move toward, or accomplish, a common goal!

Managing on the other hand is organizing time and resources appropriately to accomplish that goal successfully.

Is there a difference? Absolutely!

Most companies have leaders in the most senior positions and great managers under them to carry out their goals.

In ideal situations a person can be both! That is having the best of both worlds.

In sports a good leader will get the most out of a player, while a manager would provide them with the mechanics of the sports.

In a business a leader creates a desire for everyone to make the very best product, while a manager insures everyone has the tools necessary to produce it.

In the military a leader motivates his troops to believe nothing is impossible, while a manager insures they have weapons to accomplish it.

So can a leader be made or are they born?

When I sat down to write this article on what is leadership I couldn't help but think of that question!

Certainly there are leadership classes galore across all aspects of business. We've all attended them. Classes like; active listening, communication skills, problem solving, decision making, building teams, etc.

But again, is a leader born or made? I believe managers are made but leaders I believe are born. At least the great ones are.

The fact remains no matter how many classes a person attends on developing their leadership skills they may never become a leader if they didn't start out with the character to become one. Do people in leadership positions ever lie? Of course they do, but although they may be in a leadership role that does not necessarily make them a leader!

Leaders care about their staff to the point they will make personal sacrifices for them! They will put them first and themselves second. Good parents are the same way!

However, understand that sometimes their staff may not fully grasp what they are trying to accomplish, but in the end a good leader has the overall good of their staff in mind. That also does not mean that everything that happens will be good. As an example a leader may have to make employee cuts in order to save the company from going out of business. This type of action always separates the men from the boys.

So what is leadership? I hope this gives you a good idea of what it is!