What is Leadership?

What is Leadership?

“It’s time to stop talking about leadership, and lead.”
The voice in my head.
One afternoon.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
July 1999.

Over the past three and a half decades I’ve lived and worked in the world of leadership. Part of my passion has been the desire to understand the intersection of organizational structure, culture and human nature with the phenomenon of leadership. From early on in my training and study, it was clear that my perception of leadership is different than many who write about it and the practitioners of the leader’s craft.

Leadership that Empowers Today

Leadership that Empowers Today

We live in a world that is in transition.

One of the most significant transitions that we are experiencing is in the nature of leadership.

It used to be that leadership was reserved for the person who was the head of an organization. We knew who the leader was because he or she had a title that defined their role as the leader of the organization.

Since there are only a few leaders, it means everyone else is a follower.

The Relationship between Leaders and Followers is Changing

The relation between leading and following is in transition.

It once was true that great leaders had great followers. However, over time, as the world has changed, we are far more aware of what our leaders are really like. The issue for the follower is ‘Do I trust the leader?’. For leaders, the question is ‘Do I respect the follower?’