Leadership?

Leaders are born, not made! Was a famous adage! Now in our lives in the corporate world we say Leaders are created!

This is very interesting for me as I have always wondered what leadership meant. Here Iam not talking about the world leaders or business leaders, Iam only talking about the leaders who have led me, led us through our careers so far. (The organizations prefer calling them the leadership team, fancy title for motivation)

I have been a ‘so-called leadership trainer’ handling sessions on how to deal with conflicts, how to collaborate, Team productivity, Coaching, Competency building, Feedback Skills, Presentation Skills, Presence etc for ‘Leaders’! BUT… I still have my question on who a leader is and what leadership means!

I went through ‘Situational Leadership’, studied about leadership styles, communication styles etc and also tried reading about our ‘Great leaders’. Did it help? I don’t think so! So I reflected on my professional journey to see what I could make of the leaders I worked with. I have worked with the ‘Directive Leaders’ who I felt lacked the human orientation, I have worked with the ‘Friendly Leaders’ with who I was comfortable and then I have worked with the other type who I call the ‘Non-leaders’ who believed in the concept of ‘One size fits all’!

With the Non-Leaders I have seen typical practices of using position based power/authority, creating fear and believing in getting work done under pressure. Success meant to them the way they defined it and they went about preaching their ways or some bookish ways that may have worked for them. They believed that by sheer virtue of their ‘professional experience’ their sub-ordinates should do as they are told or face dire consequences. They spoke loosely and took to gossip. Their discussions had a lot of ‘I’ in it. They resorted to favoritism, subjectivity and other biases. They would always say ‘I have been here for the last XX years and I know what works and what doesn’t. ‘You better do it this way’. They always were busy in meetings or taking decisions. They would be high on self-orientation and their policy would be ‘My way or the highway’. They were known more for the damage they could do to your career than for the enhancement.

Honestly and Sadly 97.5% (Don’t ask why 97.5%...I just liked this number) of the leaders I worked with were in this category. Their knowledge and their actions didn’t match. Their actions were the exact opposite of the views they would discuss and learn in their learning sessions. The loudest voice in a meeting is considered to be that of the best leader! They have redefined the meaning of AGGRESSION!!

From them I learnt what not to be!

Iam still trying to figure out if it really is difficult to practice what we have learnt, to be empathetic! Why do some of the so-called corporate leaders believe that success is in a position and confuse that with leadership skills?

In my journey so far I have met some really genuine people who did not have the position and hence were not called leaders!

The more I learn, the more sessions I conduct, the more leaders and people I meet, I realize that the leadership theory is deduced from analyzing various behaviors and consequences. Various experiences have been observed, recorded and analyzed for the benefit of our learning. Emulating is not merely practicing the behaviors of successful leaders but it is an opportunity to find out what each of us is. Emulate the success!

I think a leader is one who can/will contribute and be there when needed! A leader could be one who could respect his/her emotions and also understand the emotions of the others. A leader, I think, realizes his/her importance in seeing the success they create in the world. I think leadership is these values in practice! I don’t subscribe to the view that Leaders are born or for that matter leaders are created! I believe that each of us is a leader and when we scratch the surface we will see that it is not so difficult to understand, as we are the leaders of our destiny!

Iam sure there is more to it?
I welcome all the leaders to assist me in cracking this one!! My quest is still on!