What is leadership?
Whether we have thought about it much at all, we all have an idea of
what leadership is when we hear that word. It is thrown at us everyday in many different contexts, but
again it is quite unclear what leadership is? Is leadership great speeches, decision making skills, taking
responsibility? It is all of these
things, but also it can be none of these things because leadership is not
simply an accumulation of traits, but rather a judgment of actions. Leadership is about action.
Many of the “greatest leaders” of history were hardly
leaders if you look at their resume.
Cesar Chavez did not name himself leader of farm workers than go about
working to make their lives better.
In reality Chavez noticed that there was a need for leadership and he
grew to perform acts of leadership.
One such act was the formation of the United Farm Workers Union. Another action of leadership preformed
by Chavez were the hunger strikes he personally went on to gain notoriety of
the farm workers cause. In this
sense Chavez was a leader because of the actions he preformed, not because he
was the leader of the United Farm Workers Union.
Likewise we see unlikely leaders on the fields of
competition. Not to go overboard
on the Jeremy Lin sensation of this past winter, but he is an example of
someone who does not have position as a leader, but has emerged through his
actions to be a leader of his team.
We see unlikely leaders emerge in more subtle ways as well, ways that
don’t get plastered all over ESPN every night, but in ways that we all remember
when we look back on group experiences.
Where you ever in a group where there was a member who was perhaps quite
soft spoken, but attended every meeting and made sure things stayed on
track? It is not likely this
person was designated as the leader of this group, because they didn’t speak
up, but they performed acts of leadership every meeting. Leading is a lot more than just pretty
words: leadership is action.
Showing up to each meeting, showing that the group is important, and
your committed to the group, is an act of leadership for others to follow. If you show it is important, others
will notice and follow, thus making you a leader.
If we examine how we treat those we see as “natural born
leaders” we can see how that prevents us from viewing some of their actions as
not so much leadership, as perhaps positional. Let’s look at everyone’s favorite sports hero of 2011: Tim
Tebow. From the first time I heard
Tim Tebow’s name, the word leadership was always associated with it. He is a great leader: passionate, hard
working, determined, all great buzzwords.
Tim Tebow does in fact perform acts of leadership, however, since he has
been labeled a leader, he is credited with far more than he may actually
perform. In many of the Broncos
successful games this past season there were incredible defensive efforts. In several games individuals not named
Tim Tebow, the offensive line for one, preformed acts of leadership by creating
an opportunity for the team to win the game.
We do have leaders in this world, many of which have been
given their role based on position, based on traits, or based on
achievement. This is not
inherently bad, however, leadership is more complex than the simple buzzwords
we associate with it on an everyday basis. Leadership is really about action, and that should be the
standard we move to when we evaluate leaders. Plenty of people can give good speeches, make decisions, or
work hard. Can and will you
perform a necessary task when needed?
That is truly what leadership is about.
