Leadership: What Does it Look, Smell, Sound and Feel Like?

Leadership is a combination of energies and acts that cause people to move in a direction they would not normally move under their own initiative.

World history is full of powerful leaders, people that changed the direction of societies, business and culture. Today it feels like what is missing from contemporary society — in business, politics, religion, education and even the family — is leadership. It is obviously there, but either not often enough or not moving us in the directions that, long term, might be in our best interest. Here are a few distinctions for the kind of leadership we might respect, admire, trust and, ultimately, follow the most:

A Vision That Contributes To Us. More than anything, a leader has a clear vision that is compelling enough and contributes enough to inspire us to pursue it.

Communicates. A leader communicates that vision as inevitable, and in such a way that it stays forefront on our minds and hearts.

Listens. A leader listens in such a way that we feel heard — not necessarily agreed with, but at least heard and honored.

Integrity. A leader’s actions are consistent with his/her promises. We can count on a leader to be who he/she says they are. (Integrity has nothing to do with ethics).

Courage. A leader goes where others are afraid to go, and goes whether or not others follow. A leader’s journey does not depend on others following.

Growth. A leader stays on his or her own path of personal and character development. None of us is ever done. None of us ever arrives. As soon as we act as though we have, we loose our power of leadership.

Makes Unreasonable Requests. A leader asks us to do things that, left to our own thinking, we would consider undoable, unreasonable and or outrageous. Not things that violate our values — on the contrary, things that actually honor our values.

Authentic. Leaders are authentic. This is like having integrity. Authenticity gives us all of a person — their fears, their weaknesses, their strengths and their power.