Leadership
is a term that is becoming more and more popular. Nowadays, leadership gurus
are given great importance and seminars and workshops are being held everywhere
by various leadership gurus. Money is spent on attending such workshops and
buying of books. TV channels and publishers are paying to interview such gurus.
Following a leadership guru is becoming a lifestyle, a new religion.
But
what is leadership?
There
may not be a universal definition for “Leadership”. However, most people would
include in their definition that leadership is the act of exerting an influence
on others to inspire them to achieve a particular goal. Whether the goal
achieved is something good or bad is another thing. Mahatma Gandhi was a
leader; he inspired (and still does it even after his demise) people to fight
for freedom and influenced them to live in a particular way. Nelson Mandela was
a leader; he inspired people to fight for apartheid in South Africa. And so was
Martin Luther King. Hitler also was a leader; he had so many followers whom he
influenced to join his army.
The
term leadership should not be misunderstood to mean only a head or a superior,
although most of the heads of department/ superiors are called upon to play the
role of a leader.
A
father or a mother is a leader to their children. They are very often looked up
as role models. So are teachers. Even a friend is often a leader. In group of
friends, it is common to have one that inspires or influences others to behave
in a particular way.
In
an organisation, anyone can be a leader. The boss may be a leader if he/
she inspires his/ her subordinates to
work as a team to achieve the organisational goal. However, he may not be
called a leader if he/ she bosses over them to work. Remember a leader “pulls”
while a boss “pushes”.
Therefore
leadership can be regarded as an influence that inspires others, without any
force or pressure, to adopt willingly an attitude and a way of life in order to
achieve a particular goal.
