Leadership

George Washington crossing the Delaware River.

Leadership is the skill of guiding the efforts of others in the performance of some tasks in order to achieve a worthwhile goal, take prompt and decisive action when needed and inspire others to perform their best.

A leader may have higher skills than his subordinates , although it is not essential. He directs activities through discipline and encouragement and displays the values expected. Where practicable he will explain why some action is needed rather than simply use his authority to demand compliance.

• "... leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves." - Stephen R. Covey

What leadership is

See also: Visionary (Business, organizations, and politics) Motivation and Decision making and Communication skills and Goal setting Organizational skills and Teamwork skills and Mindset and Change management and Virtue and Ethics and Action orientation

Leadership "is the ability to guide and influence a group of people to work together and achieve a common goal. It involves a set of behaviors and mindsets that help people adjust to change and accomplish shared goals."

Articles:

• What Is the Definition of Leadership? Components and Example, Investopedia
• What is leadership?, Techtarget.com
• What is leadership?, McKinsey & Company
• Understanding Leadership, Harvard Business Review
• What Is Leadership?, Mindtools.com
• What is Leadership? Definition, Meaning & Importance, Emeritus.org

Leadership traits/qualities

See also: Virtue and Ethics and Empathy and Communication skills and Motivation and Teamwork skills

Good leaders "typically possess qualities like integrity, empathy, strong communication skills, the ability to inspire others, a clear vision, adaptability, decisiveness, accountability, and a focus on developing their team, all while demonstrating ethical behavior and fostering trust within their group."

Articles:

• 16 Must-Have Leadership Qualities, Our Lady of Lake University
• 12 Characteristics of a Good Leader, Center for Creative Leadership
• 8 Essential Qualities of Successful Leaders, Harvard Business Review
• Leadership Traits: 10 Top Qualities of Effective Leaders, Indeed
• Leadership traits, Marine Corps ROTC
• Leadership traits, Corporate Finance Institute
• Five effective traits of a leader, Korn Ferry
• Bill Cohen’s Eight Universal Laws of Heroic Leadership

Necessity of managing yourself before managing others. Leadership by example

See also: Self-management

• Before You Manage Others, Manage Yourself First, Forbes

• Smart Leaders Manage Themselves Before Managing Others, Forbes

• Before you can lead others, you need to manage yourself

Leadership by example

• How to lead by example, Asana

• Leading by Example, Corporate Finance Institute

• How to Lead by Example: The Ripple Effect of Your Actions

• 7 ways you can lead by example (and why it matters) by Maggie Wooll, MBA

• 11 Ways to Lead by Example in the Workplace, Hubspot

• 8 Positive Ways To Lead by Example in the Workplace, Indeed

Leadership styles

• Exploring Four Leadership Styles: Directive, Supportive, Participative, and Achievement Oriented

Leadership skills

See also: Decision making and Change management and Problem solving and Problem solving and resourcefulness and Delegation skills and Conflict resolution and Creativity and Ethics and Virtue and Morality and Emotional intelligence

Key leadership skills are:

Key leadership skills include:

• Decision making: The ability to make sound choices that align with your team's goals - even when time, information and resources are limited. See also: Problem solving and resourcefulness

• Adaptability: The ability to proactively anticipate change and be quick to adapt. See: Change management

• Delegation skills: The ability to assign tasks to the right people based on their skills to prevent burnout and make the best use of your team's talents

• Conflict resolution: The ability to use active listening and empathy to mediate and foster an environment where people feel heard. See Listening skills

• Creativity: The ability to find unique ways to address challenges and develop new solution, products or services

• Problem solving: The ability to stay calm, identify a step-by-step solution, and resolve obstacles

• Integrity: The ability to be honest, trustworthy, and reliable, and to follow company policies. See: Ethics and Virtue and Morality

• Emotional intelligence

Articles:

• Leadership Skills, SkillsYouNeed.com
• What Are Leadership Skills, and Why Are They Important?, Coursera
• Leadership skills, Techtarget.com
• Leadership in the Workplace: 10 Skills To Develop
• The Core Leadership Skills You Need in Every Role, Center for Creative Leadership
• The 8 key leadership skills you need to know in 2024, Institute for Management Development
• 5 Essential Leadership Skills Employers Are Looking For, Forbes, 2023

Importance of visionary leadership

President John F. Kennedy giving his We choose to go to the moon speech at Rice University.

See also: Visionary (Business, organizations, and politics)

In business, organizations and politics the term visionary leadership refers to leaders who are able to see and/or predict opportunities that many others do not see.

What visionary leadership is

• What is a visionary leadership style?
• Visionary Leadership Style

Videos:

• Visionary leadership video playlist, video playlist

Importance of vision for leaders

• No vision, no future: the need for visionary leadership

• Leadership Without Vision Is Just Management, The Daily MBA website

• What Dysfunctional Leaders Do: Lack Vision by Heather Herring Casey, MPS, PfMP, PgMP, PMP

• Why Leaders Can’t Ignore Vision

• Navigating the Hazards: The Consequences of Lack of Vision or Direction in Leadership

Visionary leader qualities

• What are the Qualities of a Visionary Leader?, Michigan State University

• What Is Visionary Leadership?

Visionary leadership skills

• 5 Ways To Show Your Visionary Leadership Skills, Forbes, 2023
• What are the key skills and behaviors of a visionary leader?

Common pitfalls of leaders who are visionary, but lack other qualities to bring the vision to fruition or pursue unrealistic visions

• Being a visionary is not enough

• The Most Neglected Skill of Visionaries (and How to Fix It)

Achievement oriented leadership

See also: Achievement oriented leadership

Achievement oriented leadership is a leadership style where the leader encourages subordinate growth and progress by setting goals that are challenging or at the highest level possible.

Achievement oriented leadership articles

• Achievement oriented leadership, CEOpedia
• What Is an Achievement Oriented Leader?, AllNewBusiness.com
• Achievement Oriented Leadership – A Complete Guide
• Achievement-Oriented Leadership: Your Guide to Team Success
• Achievement Oriented Leadership: How to Lead with it

The Hersey-Blanchard Model (Situational Leadership)

• The Hersey-Blanchard Model (Situational Leadership): Adapting Style to Follower Readiness, ChatGPT. See: Leadership
• The Hersey-Blanchard Model (Situational Leadership): Adapting Style to Follower Readiness, Grok. See: Leadership

Transformational leadership

See also: Transformational leadership theory and Teamwork skills and Collaboration

Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders."

Kendra Cherry, MSEd indicates:

“

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that can inspire positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process, but they are also focused on helping every member of the group succeed. Transformational leaders take control of situations by conveying a clear vision of the group's goals. These leaders have a marked passion for the work and an ability to make the rest of the group feel recharged and energized. Transformational leaders focus on helping members of the group support one another and provide them with the support, guidance, and inspiration they need to work hard, perform well, and stay loyal to the group. The primary goals of transformational leadership are to inspire growth, promote loyalty, and instill confidence in group members... Bass also suggested that there were four different components of transformational leadership. The four main elements of transformational leadership are: Intellectual stimulation: Transformational leaders not only challenge the status quo; they also encourage creativity among followers. The leader encourages followers to explore new ways of doing things and new opportunities to learn. Individualized consideration: Transformational leadership also involves supporting and encouraging individual followers. To foster supportive relationships, transformational leaders keep lines of communication open so that followers feel free to share ideas and so that leaders can offer immediate recognition of the unique contributions of each follower. Inspirational motivation: Transformational leaders have a clear vision that they can articulate to followers. These leaders can also help followers experience the same passion and motivation to fulfill these goals. Idealized influence: The transformational leader serves as a role model for followers. Because followers trust and respect the leader, they emulate this individual and internalize their ideals.

”

Leadership/management and the building of social trust

See also: Social trust

Social trust refers to the general belief that people within a society/organization will behave ethically and reliably follow social norms/values. This enables cooperation and stability within a society. Social trust is considered a key element for a well-functioning society.

Articles on leadership/management and social trust:

• Good Leadership? It All Starts With Trust, Harvard Business Publishing
• How the best leaders build trust, Society for Human Resource Management
• 10 ways to build trust in a team
• How the best leaders build trust by Stephen Covey

Creativity and leadership

See also: Creativity and Innovation and Problem solving and Change management

Creativity is "crucial for leadership because it enables leaders to generate innovative solutions to complex problems, adapt to changing circumstances, inspire their teams to think outside the box, and ultimately drive organizational growth by seizing new opportunities and fostering a culture of innovation; essentially, creative leaders can navigate challenges more effectively and envision new possibilities for their teams and the company."

Articles:

• Creativity and the Role of the Leader, Harvard Business Review
• How to Be a Creative Leader, National University
• How Leaders Can Foster A Culture Of Creative Thinking, Forbes, 2023
• How To Embody Creativity In Leadership, Forbes, 2022
• 8 Ways to Use Creativity in Leadership, Indeed
• Creativity and Innovation: The Leadership Dynamics, Regents University
• Great Leaders Are Creative

Leadership quotes

Steve Jobs

• "Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could." - Steve Jobs

• "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker

• "Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work." - Seth Godin

• "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion." — Jack Welch

• "A leader is a dealer in hope." — Napoleon Bonaparte

• "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." — John F. Kennedy

• "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams

• "Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determinations." — John Seaman Garns

• "Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort." — Vince Lombardi

• "A real leader faces the music even when he doesn't like the tune." — Arnold H. Glasgow

• “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” — Rosalynn Carter

• "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." — Dwight D. Eisenhower

• “The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.” — Padmasree Warrior

• "Indeed, if thou hurteth in thy efforts and thou suffer painful dings, then thou art doing it right." - Richard Marcinko, Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior

• "Thou hast not to like it - thou hast just to do it." - Richard Marcinko, Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior

Books on leadership

• Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John Maxwell. ‎HarperCollins Leadership; 1st edition (January 16, 2018)
• Leadership Code: Five Rules to Lead By by Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman. Harvard Business Review Press (January 8, 2009)
• Developing the Leader Within You by John Maxwell. Thomas Nelson Inc; First Edition (January 1, 1993)
• The Art of the Leader by William Cohen. Prentice Hall Direct (January 1, 1990)
• Heroic Leadership: Leading with Integrity and Honor by William A. Cohen. Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (May 5, 2010).
• Re-writing your Leadership Code: How your Childhood Made You the Leader You Are, and What You Can Do About It by Nik Kinley and Shlomo Ben-Hur. Palgrave Macmillan (March 4, 2024)
• Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed The World by C. Lowney. Loyola Press (January 1, 2003)
• Leadership by Example: The Ten Key Principles of All Great Leaders by Sanjiv Chopra. Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (May 8, 2012)

See also

• Strategic thinking
• Strategic planning skills
• Management
• Achievement orientation
• Collaboration skills
• Teamwork skills
• ENTJ commander personality in the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator
• Conflict resolution
• General
• Atheism and leadership

External links

• Leadership, ToolsHero.com
• Concepts of Leadership

Video:

• Leadership skills - Video playlist, Video playlist
• Leadership videos with a military/Christian perspective discussed - video playlist, Video playlist