First, let’s not confuse management with leadership. These are two very different disciplines. I have no doubt that a good manager can be a crap sports coach. Leadership is seeing what needs to be done and leading the way. Management is getting things done in a much more “hands-on” manner. Some folks are both good managers and good leaders, but these trumpeter swans are few and far between.

Liv says that “leadership is circumstantial”. Sorry, it is not – at least not the TALENT to lead. There is a difference between TYPES of leaders (Dr. Paul Taffinder identifies seven: http://www.leadershipcrashcourse.com/cc_seventypes.html) and STYLES of leadership. And I will grant you that styles CAN be circumstantial – the best leaders master many styles. Sometimes you need to yell, sometimes you need to cajole. Sometimes you need to preach. Sometimes you need to support a process that has already started. Liv, check out Taffinder. Perhaps this is the behavioral analysis you’ve been looking for.

As to “leadership” as a “fuzzy ability”, well I suspect it IS some kind of innate quality. If you look at the background of any good leader, you’ll find that this individual has consistently led his or her peers. Do a little research on LinkedIn and see for yourself. Search for CEOs of companies of more than 10 people. You’ll find that most of them have been leaders in other areas as well – student organizations, church groups, whatever.

Liv does make one distinction that is important: “looks like a leader” is certainly NOT the same as “is a leader”. This is why I get so hot under the collar when people brag about their number of Twitter followers.

Let me close this little rant with an anecdote about President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who I think was a truly gifted leader. One of his associates said, “I think he was psychoanalyzed by God.” I like that

“If you want to lead others, you need to get comfortable with the concept of power. [...] emerging leaders sometimes stumble over the use of power for one of two reasons. Either they are too comfortable with it and wield it ruthlessly, or they are so fearful of it they avoid it completely.”

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/06/how_to_use_power_effectively.html

If you apply these lenses to the decisions of leaders, you can see how the specific examples that Stephen, Jeff and others pointed out are decisions about how to use power in a particular set of circumstances.

People say that a leader needs to have vision. Blow it out your ear. The people need to have the vision, the leader needs to install belief into their followers so that the people can believe that they can obtain that vision.

I’ve been part of a leadership building team that meets regularly for the last 15 years. What makes some of the best leaders are the people who are raising up new and young comers to become great leaders themselves.

Here are some sample to know if you are a leader or not.

If you call yourself a leader and can’t be bothered to help a complete stranger for free in the late hours of the night from an emergency last minute call or Tweet- you’re not a leader.

If you have tons of people following you for your knowledge on Twitter but you yourself constantly wreak of sarcastic comments and cruel remarks to others- you’re not a leader.

If you pride yourself on being in the minority of cliques, special events, conference dinners with other senior co-workers, authors and friends that you want to be associated with but can’t take the time to treat a newbie to dinner and instil values to them while the other hot shots are partying it up- you’re not a leader.

If you fuel the fires of pride by entering comments on only “respected” peer blogs that you deem valuable, but can’t take the time to enter a nice comment on someone else’s blog even though what they’re saying is bang-on – you’re not a leader.

If you go to conference and tweet “Oh my gosh he/she is so correct I love you @person’sname you are god” to the same speakers year after year after year, but don’t encourage new people to speak or are not interested in what they have to say- you’re not a leader.

If you don’t respond to a stranger on Twitter even though you know what they said to you was of great importance and inspired you, and they’ve been following you for 3 years and you don’t want to befriend them but can take the time to say “#poopin” to a fellow Sr. co-worker- you’re not a leader.

Being a leader is not easy. It’s uncomfortable, challenging and draining. People will always have needs, people will always never “get it” and people will always need things explained to them.

If you can take 5 minutes to sketch something out on a napkin to a complete stranger who asked you a question but doesn’t understand the concept of design, you are a leader.

If you take that person out for coffee to sketch out that design and explain it to them in further detail, you are a leader.

If you befriend that person and follow up on them, offer help, reviews and critiques every so often and build a relationship purely by chance over an extended period of time, you are a great leader.

1- Trust. This goes for yourself and your team. You have to feel you’re on the right path when making hard(and sometimes what seem easy) decisions and stick to your convictions. You should also trust your team even more than yourself. Those who are in the trenches should know what it takes to make a project or a product successful. They will help stear a project in the right direction.

2 – Potically savvy. Unless you’re sitting at the very top signing off on all decisions, you will at some point have to sell ideas, deliberate on controverial moves, backup decisions and even report some bad news from time to time. It takes skill to handle these types of discussions in a way that doesn’t harm your team or product. Note: You also shouldn’t go all in and build up that layer of slime and have enough political clout to make a run at a Senate seat tomorrow,there has to be a balance!

3 – Use the word “no” now and then. A leader shouldn’t oversell their team and their abilities. Refering back to trust, you should know the limits and if a project could break a team or is just an outright mistake, just walk away. It makes no sense to take out a team for an ounce of glory.

4 – Just listen and relax. Keep an open mind and don’t be the loudest voice at the table. In a past job, I worked with a senior leader who was very calm and had confidence in his team’s abilities as well as his own. The result was, when he spoke it was powerful. He chose his words and decisions carefully and they had immense meaning to everyone at the table. Meanwhile, they guy next to him was weighing in on every move and was diluting the value of his input with every word.

I hear many insinuations that humility (i.e. @jeffpark’s “it’s NOT ‘about’ the leader.” quote above. Others have said that as well. I’m not sure if “Humility ” is the right word, but I know I have been effective as a change agent b/c of and in spite of my lack of humility.

There is something about exuding confidence in any situation (no matter how wrong, uncomfortable, or apprehensive you really feel or are) that allows people to trust you. Now, that same lack of humility can turn into arrogance, condescension and hubris and these are troubling qualities.

I haven’t read the book by Gladwell, but didn’t he touch on stuff like this in his book “Outliers”. I think of the great leaders and change agents in my life and “humility” is seldom a quality I would attribute to them, except one who was probably more of a great manager than a great leader, but definitely achieved tremendous change during a long tenure at a “design antagonistic” organization.

I also wonder if “middle leadership” such as the previous example requires more humility than the guy at the top. Meaning if you are leading from the middle you need to show that you are a follower as much as a leader so as to remain in the position you have. Otherwise there could be a perception of threat.

Anyway, just a thought on reading the comments here.

– dave

* They taught the fundamentals of each sport and were patient in their teaching.

* They respected the strengths of each player but ensured we spent practice time focused on weaknesses; making each player stronger, which ultimately helped the team.

* They listened carefully to the goals of each player and shaped training programs accordingly.

* When we won, all the credit went to the team and our performance. When we lost, they took the time to explain mistakes WE made (not one individual), keeping us focused on how such mistakes would ultimately make us stronger through understanding and practice.

My father, a little biased here, but my father gave me some great advice. He said, “Jeff, I believe everyone wants two things in life: To feel like what they are doing is of value, and that they are valued in whatever process they are undertaking.”

A leader is any individual, in any environment, who can create that feeling of being valued for those with whom he/she is leading.

A great quote from the West Wing TV series: “You know what they call a leader without any followers? Just a guy taking a walk!”

Leadership is NOT “about” the leader.

The greatest barriers to effective leadership are ego and arrogance… but that’s another conversation.

If of interest to the community, I’ve had two great conversations on the subject of leadership with Eric Reiss http://tinyurl.com/nebxgv and most recently with Joe Sokohl here on Radio Johnny http://tinyurl.com/ygarqkm

Livia – Like it.

Some people think they are leaders and are not. Some people are leaders but dont think they are. Some people are simply waiting around to be led or for other people to show the way.

How do you become better at leading?

How do you give support and nurture those who dont think are leaders but are clearly leading people positive towards great work?