What a Leader Owes
While interviewing candidates for a management role, I couldn't help but notice a pattern. When asked about leadership, one after another, candidates were describing their authority instead: the decisions they were allowed to make, the title they held, things their position allowed them to do or speak about. They were describing what their position meant, and calling it leadership.
Those are not the same thing.
A Process, Not a Position
Leadership may be one of the most studied subjects in all of management, and still I think it's one of the most misunderstood. You can find dozens of academic definitions of leadership, but my favorite is Peter Northouse's: "Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal." I love that definition for how much load every word is carrying. It is a process, not a one-time action or a title. Influence is...
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