What is Leadership?

Leadership is the ability or action of one individual to guide other individuals, teams or organisations toward the desired outcome.  This is not related to the hierarchy of an individual in a company, but rather their capacity to influence others to follow their step.

Leadership can often stem from social influence or be pushed onto someone who has a significant amount of followers. 

Some people may become leaders without even realising or wanting it, due to their ability to influence others. On the other hand, some people may have the responsibilities of a leader, but this does not simply make them one.

When thinking about your organisation, it would be assumed that the leader would be your CEO. But if this person does not know how to effectively guide the rest of the team in a way that pushes them to reach desired outcomes, this means the CEO may not have leadership potential. 

It may sometimes be found that line managers show more leadership skills than top-level managers, relating back to the idea that leadership is not about hierarchies.

In saying this, just because someone doesn’t show natural leadership potential, they can work on this and learn how to demonstrate leadership by enhancing particular skills.

Some of these skills could include being able to share a vision with others, the ability to motivate, show emotional intelligence by being empathetic, and acting as a support system to others.