There are two broad categories of people I see who would benefit from a more personalized and empowered view of leadership: first, individuals who seem to assume they are not leaders in the present day and are waiting to “one day be a leader” by way of a certain title or position, and second, people who have a leadership “title” who operate without an ongoing leadership philosophy or development plan who often assume their title guarantees their leadership.
Beyond the definition I proposed, I also want to offer a perspective of leadership that applies to everyone; students, interns and part-time and full-time employees at all levels in every organization: Leadership is an evolutionary journey, not a destination, propelled through self-awareness, learning and practice. Simply stated, leadership is not a binary state of either “being a leader” or “not being a leader”; it’s a matter of where we are in our leadership growth.
Leadership is a process and a journey that starts with you, and it can start today. No matter where you fall on an organizational chart and in your career journey, you can influence, inspire, learn, grow, declare and accomplish goals. In fact, I posit our teams, organizations and communities would be better off if we all saw ourselves and treated each other as leaders.
If we know what leaders do (inspire and influence), let’s look at how they do it: In very brief terms, leaders are able to develop and articulate a vision that connects with peoples’ values and inspires change over sometimes long periods of time, which requires ongoing motivation and communication.
While this sounds simple, it is made increasingly complex by the very nature of human personality and behavior, both of the leader and the people the leader is attempting to influence.
Effective leaders (those further along their leadership journey) have a strong sense of self-efficacy, and they know how to manage their emotions, allowing for other people to do the same, authentically. Transformational leaders (those even further along the leadership journey) can make invitations for others to step into the same sense of authentic self-awareness and self-efficacy, opening the doors to explore the depth of our human potential. Seeing yourself as a leader and practicing leadership is the first step of the journey of becoming good to great to effective to transformative. There are small steps you can start today, because you are the leader of your life — no promotion required!
