What Is Leadership?

We have all heard how important it is to improve as a Leader.

But what does that even mean?

What is "Leadership"?

If I were to ask you, what would you say?

You might give a definition like John Maxwell (father of Leadership Development and my original teacher that started me on my journey):

Leadership is Influence, nothing more, nothing less.

The dictionary says something different:

The act of leading a group of people or an organization.

If you ask ChatGPT this, it has yet a different definition:

Leadership is the ability to guide, motivate, and influence others towards a common goal or vision.

Or, you may have said something completely different!

Herein lies the problem.

According to research done in 1995, there are over 850 "academic" definitions of "Leadership".

That was nearly 30 years ago - how many more do you believe have been created since?

So now, think about this.

When you take a "Leadership Development" course - which definition of "Leadership" are they using?

Do you know?

Do they even know?

Does the type of "Leadership" they are teaching work with the type of "Leadership" your organization needs?

Does everyone in your organization need the type of "Leadership" this specific individual is teaching?

Is the type of "Leadership" they are teaching completely at odds with the type of "Leadership" you are trying to create at your organization?

You can take 20 courses on the same topic, all by different individuals with different definitions of "Leadership" and end up with 20 different "ways" to do something.

You can then find out that none of those 20 ways work for you because you are looking for a different type of Leadership!

The skills change depending on the type of "Leadership" that is being discussed.

Then we can go even deeper.

Are there different principles of Leadership?

Are there different types of Leadership?

Are there different pillars of Leadership?

Are there different laws of Leadership?

The answers to all of these are yes, and it all depends on what type of Leadership you are looking at.

Are we talking Authoritarian Leadership or Democratic Leadership?

Are we talking Top-Down Leadership or Grass-Roots Leadership?

Are we talking Board-Room Leadership or Familial Leadership?

Are we talking about Leadership designed to stand against hardened criminals, or Leadership designed to get through to teenagers?

Are we talking about Ideal Leadership or Practical Leadership?

Are we talking about Everyday Leadership or Crisis Leadership?

You can already see, from this excessively tiny list, how so many different Leadership programs could not only be misleading but also completely ineffective.

If you try Authoritarian Leadership techniques in a Democratic Style organization, you'll be hated and mistrusted.

If you try to talk to an employee like you talk to a teenager, it'll come off as insulting.

If you are in a crisis mode, everyday leadership will only lead to extreme pain for your organization.

This is why I no longer do "Leadership Development".

It doesn't mean anything to anyone.

That's why I began to create "Legendary Leadership".

What was important in my work was that "Legendary Leadership" was a starting place, that could be adapted to an organization's requirements based on the type of Leadership they wanted to build.

All successful Leaders have the same Psychophysiology as any other human being.

When you get the Psychophysiology right, you can more easily adapt "skills" that work for what you want to create.

If you reduce stress, it becomes easier to handle the challenges of Leadership.

If you are an Exemplar, people will want to follow you making Leadership easier.

Getting into Flow States Leads to Peak Performance, and the best teams get in Flow together.

The skills will change depending on who you are speaking with, the specific situation in question, or the industry you are in.

But the Psychophysiology will always remain the same.