Leadership in Essence
Leadership is much talked topic in private as well as public sectors. You may find the number of books on leadership in a management bookshelf easily outnumbering the rest. The point here is the vitality of leadership for organizational success.
Today’s column is an attempt to get a glimpse of the leading leverage, with specific emphasis of its serving dimension. According to R. M. Stogdill, a behavioral researcher, leadership is the most vastly researched and the least understood phenomena on earth. Owing to the vastness of the whole subject area, let me define my scope. I would look into leaders in general on a global scale, and business leaders in specific in the local scene.
Leaders may be evident at any level of an organization. However, at a strategic level a leader can be defined as a person who looks beyond the business and provides leadership of the organization. His/her task is to deal with government and external stakeholders to influence, set and communicate the policy under which the organization operates and is accountable for its performance.
In essence, leadership is the ability to influence people toward the attainment of organizational goals. Leadership is reciprocal, occurring among people. It is a “people” activity, distinct from administrative paper shuffling or problem-solving activities.Leadership is dynamic and involves the use of power.
Leaders are at all levels. Typically, leadership is associated with the top brass of an organization. Here we refer to the strategic leadership. Whereas, at different levels, we get a plenty of operational leadership. In both these cases, the ability to influence occupies a prominent place. When you consider the five hundred and fifty Jathaka stories, more than fifty percent of the time, Bodhisathva is portrayed as a leader. In some cases, as a one who serve others. In brief, a servant leader is a servant first. The simple motto is service first. Jesus Christ washed the feet of his disciples and requested them to do so for the others. It is a true demonstration of servant leadership. There are instances from Prophet Mohamed’s life too where the servant leadership characteristics could be found.
Leadership is more to do with decisions and actions than to do with positions and titles. It is more a mindset than a tool set. The eminent and prominent leaders we see in all spheres of life have amply proved it in their actions. I would say leaders do triple “I”s. viz, inspiring, influencing and initiating. They inspire from the words they utter, influence from the deeds they do and initiate from the seeds they sow. In fact, a leader is a dreamer and rallies a “dream team” in pursuit of it. That is where the visionary leadership comes into effect.
As Warren Bennis said, “leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”
My attempt in this column is to be inviting the readers to “be brilliant on basics.” Let us discover the fascinating facets of leadership in the upcoming weeks in order to enrich ourselves towards a true “leadership leap.”