What Makes a Leader?

Corporations, not-for-profits, and governments are comprised of staff. Most employers are essentially doers and some managers. Where I see the deficit is in the number of true leaders. Not that the opportunities to lead don’t exist at many levels (there is a misconception held by many that leaders are only at the top and all people at the top are leaders) but organizations often fail to recognize, foster, and reward leadership skills. Most people don’t see themselves in the role. Can you be a manager and be a leader, of course you can, but you can also be a manger who doesn’t lead? Yes.

What makes a leader?
Are you a leader?
Do you aspire to be one?

Looking back even as far as elementary school it was clear who the natural leaders were. They became the captains of teams and were elected to school government. In some instances, they were the instigators of trouble or the rebels. Whatever position they took, they influenced others — classmates, younger students, teachers, and administrators. Not much changed over time or distance in the classroom or the workplace.

The essential qualities of a leader, which they exhibited in school, are the same I see in most of the leaders I admire today.

1. Leaders influence thoughts and ideas, as well as the people internally and outside the organization.
2. Leaders are men and women who people want to follow, even when the path is unclear. They guide or push employees, stakeholders, vendors, soldiers, citizens, and so many more to new places and greater heights.
3. Leaders spearhead change and have less involvement with the actual execution.
4. Leaders create culture with a broad-brush impact. Managers tend to be more insular in their approach and thrust.
5. Leaders operate in the future. They are the visionaries. Many a great leader was only a mediocre manager because the essential tasks of the day-to-day interested them less than the next year, decade, or project.
6. Leaders embrace challenges. Rather than see them as problems, they view them as opportunities, new horizons. Managers are often problem solvers — an essential role but different.
7. Leaders tolerate, even embrace, the different work styles of people. Could Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive been any more different in approach and how they managed their people, yet, they were/are innovation geniuses and renown team leaders. Note: for a great article profiling “Jony” Ive, go to The New Yorker magazine.
8. Leaders are comfortable making the big decision and living with the consequences. They are less interested in striving for popularity, though their intentions generally are for the good of others.
9. Leaders navigate complexity and have the ability to synthesize information, a variety of moving parts, and contributors, all into a coherent message and goal that is understandable, as well as attainable.
10. Leaders take calculated risks, often big ones, which have significant ramifications.
11. Leaders are able to accept they don’t know everything. Most managers pride themselves on being in the weeds and knowing intricacies of all aspects of their area. Leaders can’t and don’t.
12. Leaders lead by example. They use their intellect, emotional intelligence, and adult behavior as a template for how to operate in the workplace and the community.
13. Leaders create and give trust.

This is a baker’s dozen of qualities I believe all successful leaders have and exhibit. Is it possible to be a leader at any level? Of course it is. Is leadership the attribute that most organizations desperately want but are often blind to recognize? Absolutely. Can leadership be learned? Best-selling author, John Maxwell, believes so and his book, “The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization” is a step-by-step how-to.