What is Leadership?

Firstly, thanks to @Tea Man (I've added the @ symbol because all the kids on Twitter are doing it these days) for posting the very first comments on my blog and for choosing to follow me.  For those who haven't read his comments (under 'Born Leaders'), it's worth it.  Please keep them coming.  If there's anyone else reading my blog then I'd love to hear your thoughts too - it helps take me to undiscovered, unconsidered, places.

@Tea Man raised some important questions that warrant further exploration - one sentence in particular got me pondering.  Here's what @Tea Man said "I think many struggle as leaders, or never step into leadership, not because they're not 'born leaders' but because the very definition of leadership is confusing at times.".  What struck me here is that both @Tea Man and I (and a few million others presumably) have grown up thinking about leaders and leadership as if we are looking through a dense fog at something we think we're familiar with but can't quite make out.  We've probably seen good and bad examples of leadership and have a kinda sorta idea of what it means in our heads, but not many of us have ever been presented with a clear definition.  Herein lies the problem: if we don't really know what a leader is or does, then how do we become one?  So let's try to define it.

Here's what the Oxford Dictionary says:

"A person or thing that leads."

Wow.  Wow.  Detective Holmes, pack up your crack pipe and deerstalker hat because this case is closed BABY!  Alright, so the Oxforddictionarymachine didn't spit out a very comprehensive definition, so let's look at some others:

"The only definition of leadership is someone who has followers" - Peter Drucker

"Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it." – Warren Bennis

"Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less." - John C. Maxwell

Now I'm not so naive or egotistical to even pretend I'm in the same league as these guys.  Not even in the same universe.  But I do see something missing in their definitions.  And that's "heart".  These definitions are based on well researched theory, but all of them lack heart.  They've missed the real power of leadership and that's the emotional level it works on.  So with that in mind I'd like to propose the following definition:

A leader is someone who consciously applies an ability to bring out the best in themselves and others around them.

It's a draft, but there are some key elements at work here.  To steal shamelessly from the greatest recording artist of our time - MC Hammer - let's "break it down":

• The idea of "consciously applies" is important because it indicates that a person must have the will to use their skills.  That rhymes by the way.  I don't think a person can accidentally be a leader, they have to be active about it - they have to be conscious.
• "ability" is important because leadership is, after all, a skill or set of skills.  You need to possess these to be a leader.
• Here's where I think the good stuff is: "the best in themselves and others around them".  This is the emotion - the heart - that I feel is missing from some of the other definitions.  Furthermore it addresses the requirement to be a leader of yourself as well as others.  I like the language "the best" because I believe a good leader can help make themselves and others better people, achieve great heights and do things they never thought possible.  I'm not talking about following someone to those heights, I'm talking about someone that helps you get to those heights on your own two feet.

So there you have it.  That's my darnedest at defining what a leader is and does.  If you like it or hate it, I want to hear from you.  But you better bring your solutions with any criticism, because if you can't offer a solution then you're just adding to the problem . . . . and other cliches.