subject: What Leadership Isnt [print this page] Many of the top magazines and newspapers hire inexperienced writers to write about business topics, and although it is understandable that these publications hire young people, some of the information and advice out there is plain wrong. In many cases, these dont match what truly experienced and successful business people have gone through, and the problem may reside in the process.
Secondhand information gets misunderstood, oversimplified, and it is vague; it is cleaned up, edited, and adorned. In many cases, the people being interviewed are to blame; they are experts who want to make their teams stand out.
Good business writers identify an interesting and good idea, and know how to present it in a clear and persuasive way, period. This being said, we have to say that there are many misunderstandings out there about what leadership is, and if you pay attention to them, you can harm your business in a serious way.
Here are two common ideas of what leadership is, that are definitely wrong any true leader will tell you so:
1.Leadership is about being soft
You read it all the time; that a good leader should listen to his employees, share his feelings with them, and be open to their ideas, no matter how bad they are, otherwise, business is dead. Todays business leadership arena is presented as one where employees want to be listened to; they want to contribute to decisions and give creative solutions.
As truly experienced leaders will tell you, the opposite of this is completely true. Employees want leadership, meaning they want someone to solve the problems and provide clear direction. Leaders are paid a lot of money to do just that, make tough decisions and get the job done. Obviously, a leader must be open to ideas, and should communicate and pay attention to his employees, but he has the last word on the direction the company takes and the way to get there.
In order to do this, a person must have vision, knowledge, skills, and great ideas, but above all, he must know how to make others support his ideas and work to make them a reality, even if he is criticized or opposed. And the way to do this is by making the work valuable.
2.Leadership allows for participation over sharing a vision
The idea is that when establishing goals, a leader must focus on encouraging employees participation instead of on creating a plan for better business.
A true leader can delegate a lot of work if he has the best people around him, but he can never let another person establish the goals and create the vision. The leader is the only one who knows what the business can accomplish, how far it can go, and how great it can be; this is his most important job. He can ask questions and he can look for advice, but in the end, he decides where the business is going and what he wants to achieve. After everything is clear, the leader can share his vision.
This is not easy to do. True leaders have the blessing of knowing how to create and communicate their vision in an inspiring way. They are able to communicate to others the value of the work being done; they make others understand that what they are doing is good.
In order to be a leader, you have to take the time to think about how you can make things better, and make people believe in the good behind your ideas. Only then, will employees feel honored to work for you; you become powerful and meaningful. You possess authority and influence; and it is a responsibility as much as an honor. True leadership changes lives, all you have to do is define a worthy vision and inspire others to work with you to make it a reality.
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by: John Hersey
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