Leadership: A brief identification

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.