October 6, 2009
What is Great Leadership?
How do we define great leaders? Whether you are hiring management, picking a team captain, or simply aspiring to be one yourself, it is important to have a good definition for what a great leader is. Without a clear definition, you do not have a clear goal or standard against which to measure people and your own progress. Many people think that they have a clear understanding of what makes a great leader and will simply say great leaders get great results. While this definition might be helpful in the hiring process, it hardly gives us a good target for improving ourselves as leaders. Saying “I wish to achieve great results so I can be a great leader” is like saying “I wish to be eight feet tall so I can be a great basketball player”; all the wishing in the world isn’t going to get you there.
So, as we attempt to improve ourselves as leaders, we need to first define better what it means to be a great leader and use that as a target. A starting point could be to pick a past or present great leader as a role model. This certainly gives us a better target then simply saying “I want to achieve great results”, but role models don’t necessarily make the best targets. Great leadership, it is pretty easy to see, comes in large part from authenticity. If you try to use other peoples’ methods, or champion a cause you do not truly believe in, the best you can achieve is mediocrity. To be truly great, you must be authentic to yourself and that authenticity will shine through. This is why looking at the actions, methods and tactics of past and present great leaders can be helpful; but trying to imitate them will not make you a great leader.
This is not to say we should completely ignore what other great leaders can teach us, we simply need to look at them in a broader category, rather than single them out as role models for our behavior. In other words, the value of looking at great leaders to define great leadership is not to look at any single individual, but to look at the class of great leaders as a whole, and identify what the common attributes amongst them are. You can find one groups’ take on what common attributes amongst great leaders are at http://www.leadershiplanding.com/en/leadership_attributes.htm. They define five attributes as the key features of great leadership. These five attributes are: Self-awareness, Bravery, Kindness, Innovation and Inspiration.
Pulling out attributes like this gives us a good definition of what makes a great leader. By using this list of attributes, we can determine with authority whether or not someone meets the definition of great leadership and, perhaps more importantly, we can identify leadership strengths and weakness in other leaders around us and in ourselves. Having a list of attributes in front of us when assessing great leadership, whether in hiring or for personal growth, allows us to set specific goals and evaluation criteria related to the attributes we have identified. Instead of simply wishing for great results, or trying to model our behavior based on someone regarded as great leader, we must identify the characteristics that make great leaders, and then cultivate those characteristics in ourselves to create an authentic brand of leadership based on the principles of greatness.
How do you define a great leader? What are the attributes you look for?
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