The way you define leadership determines what you’ll do, where you’ll go, and how you’ll get there. Without definitions you’ll flounder. You must define your leadership.
Some leadership-definitions are relational, others situational, still others focus on being. In addition, you can think of leadership in terms of process, behaviors, learned skills, and/or innate qualities.
For example, Maxwell distills leadership down to one word, “Influence.”
10 Definitions of Leadership:
On April 8th I asked my Facebook Friends to share useful definitions of leadership. Watch how leadership definitions determine focus and direction.
- One who sees opportunity and takes the initiative to bring forth the idea for a greater cause. Harjas Dogra
- A person who serves through being trustworthy, inspirational, and passionate! Kayrnne Courts
- One who has followers. Ben Eder
- Being perceptive to the situations that exist, seeking answers to problems you find, marshaling resources to solve them, and rolling up your sleeves and joining in. Kurt Young
- Leadership is the ability to see both the forest and the trees, connecting the vision of where we need to be travelling and finding a compelling story to get us there. It is about inspiring and developing, coaching and mentoring… Tom Varga
- Leadership is the act, or process, of helping others become, or do, more than they ever thought they could. Kevin Campbell
- ”A relational process of people together attempting to accomplish change or make a difference to benefit the common good.” – Komives, et al. Chris Jachimowicz
- The grain of sand around which a pearl accretes. David Negaard
You can see the entire list at the Leadership Freak Coffee Shop on Facebook.
Two of my personal favorites:
***9. “Leadership is a matter of how to be not how to do.” ******Frances Hesselbein
**10. “Getting people to exceed their own expectations.” G.J. Hart
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What useful definition of leadership can you offer?
How does your definition determine leadership focus and direction?