What is leadership? There has been a lot said about leadership and many inspirational thinkers have tried to define leadership. We are told that whereas management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Famous general George S. Patton also made a distinction between leadership and management by saying that a leader should not tell people how to do things but should instead tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
Napoleon felt that a good leader needed to be able to inspire people to perform. He said that a leader is a dealer in hope. This concept was also picked up by John Buchan who said that the task of leadership is not to put greatness into people but to elicit it for the greatness is there already. Ralph Waldo Emerson also highlighted the important role that the leader plays in helping people achieve their own goals. He said that a person’s chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. And finally Dwight Eisenhower saw leadership as the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. So what does it take to be a good leader and can it be taught?
What does it take to be a good leader?
Many people have approached this topic and tried to teach the world about how to be a good leader. The most notable of these people is Niccollo Machiavelli who wrote a treatsie that was designed to guide people on the methods of becoming a successful leader. The writings were titled ‘the prince’ and have been considered one of the most influential political writings ever. Often quite extreme his guide to leadership included that for a leader, ‘it is better to be feared than loved.’
Jack Welch has also contributed to the debate on what constitutes a good leader by laying out a series of principle to which a leader must adhere to achieve success in business. He stated that first and foremost a business leader must be straight in his dealings with customers and employees. A good leader must be open to what everyone in your organisation has to offer. That way they will be able to make the most of the skills that people bring to the organisation.
This principle continues on and the effective leader will get the right people in the right jobs this is said to be more important than developing a strategy. It is also important that everyone in the organisation counts in the organisation and that they know that they count. It is also important that the leader has self confidence and that this self confidence in legitimate. It is also vitally important that the business is fun. People need to enjoy being part of the business.
What can leadership development teach you?
Leadership development training will teach you practical strategies that will help you become a better leader. It will also teach you how to go about implementing these strategies in your business. Leadership development training is essentially a practical course that will make all the theories applicable to real life situations. It will shown you haw good leaders do not necessarily be born and that everyone can lead if they are given the tools to do so.
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