What Is Authentic Leadership?
The word “leader” is bandied about quite a bit in the press and in corporate boardrooms, and is often used interchangeably with words such as president or even manager. Yet to speak of true leadership is substantively different from speaking of someone who has been appointed to a top position in a company or organization, or someone who has supervisory powers over other people. How, then, can an actual leader be defined?
Clearly there are many attributes of someone who is a leader. A leader is generally someone with the ability to inspire and motivate others, as well as someone who is knowledgeable and is therefore often viewed as a thought leader. A leader will seize opportunities and make things happen, and will look out for the welfare of those he is leading. A leader will generally not ask others to do that which he is not willing to do himself. A leader, then, is someone who guides others towards a common goal and is willing to work with others in the trenches to get things done, showing the way forward by example.
At its most basic, however, one could define a leader thusly: a leader is someone who will have people following him wherever he goes, willingly. This definition encompasses the traits above, as well as many others, and is often said that one can recognize those who are true leaders, even while having a difficult time defining exactly what that means.
The distinction between leadership and management is significant. A leader is often a manager, though the reverse is not necessarily true. Management requires a different set of skills, in that to be a good manager, one must excel at tasks that revolve around organizational skills, overseeing projects and people, making sure that everything runs smoothly, facilitating as needed, and so on. People listen to what managers tell them to do because they are required to do so in some fashion; people listen to leaders because they choose to and know that that is the path most likely to lead to resolution or success, or both.
Leaders will have a vision, seeing a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal to be achieved. And having a target in mind also means being able to put a plan into action in order to achieve the desired results. This may often be a big picture sense of what needs to be done, rather than the focus on minutiae and tasks and critical paths that a manager will have, yet it will certainly have the elements needed to take a plan forward. The leader looks at what others have said is impossible, and figures out how to move forward regardless.
How do you lead? Take a look at the PMCAMPUS 5 PDU Leadership Motivation Course- Engaging Your Project Team which offers training on Project Managers perfecting the art of Leadership.
We also have a great group leadership PMP bundles for groups of 2-3 which can save time and money for your organization.
What do you see as a vital characteristic of a leader? Come and tell us on our PMCAMPUS Facebook page!
One Responseto “What Is Authentic Leadership?”
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Thanks for distinguishing real leadership from fake ones. This was really helpful.