Expert Copywriting and Marketing Consulting in Medical Technology
Lessons in Leadership
What is Leadership?
– by Lynn M. Little
My interest in leadership began as a teenager, when I led a youth group, and later when I was Student Government President of my university. But my understanding of leadership crystallized much later, when I taught a graduate course in Leadership. As with any successful teaching experience, I learned far more than my students.
I learned that the following widely held ideas about leadership simply are not true: (1) leadership is mysterious, hard to understand, and indefinable; (2) leadership cannot be taught — either people are born to be leaders, or they are not; and (3) this country currently is experiencing a dearth of leaders today in all fields.
In reality, leadership is not mysterious, hard to understand, or indefinable. In contrast, the basics of leadership are easy to understand, easy to define, and here’s the real surprise — ordinary people can be taught to be leaders.
So, what is leadership? In simplest terms, leadership is the capacity to create followership. Too simple? Why should it be more complicated? We can talk about what leaders do, or about the many factors that can make the practice of leadership difficult. But because leadership connotes inspiring followers to follow the leader, this simple definition serves.
Let’s look at the second misconception, that leadership cannot be taught. Let me ask this question. Can the theory of basketball be taught? Yes, of course. Children begin to learn the theory of basketball by watching older siblings and neighborhood kids play. But, can they get good at lay-ups and free-throws by merely sitting in the stands? No, to get good at the practice of basketball, they must get out on the court and play the game.
Leadership is the same way. It is based in theory, but to get good at it, one must practice. And here’s the vital point: the capacity to be good at leadership is like the capacity to be good at basketball (or any other sport). Different people are born with different inherent levels of leadership ability, just as they are born with different inherent levels of athletic ability.
And just as in sports, how good a leader one eventually becomes depends on how much he or she practices the “game of leadership.” Finally, just as basketball and other sports are based on “rules of the game,” so does leadership have its own set of “rules.” I like to call the basic rules of leadership the fundamental leadership process. Whether they know it or not, all leaders follow this fundamental leadership process, in one way or another.
Understanding the fundamental leadership process is the key to teaching ordinary people to lead, regardless of their inherent level of leadership ability. I’ll introduce this vital leadership process and show how it works in my next column.
Lynn M. Little retains the copyright of this column. No portion of this article may be republished without his express written permission.