Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

In recent weeks I have asked several business owners to explain leadership. I am talking in a textbook sense. The majority answered vaguely at best in comparison with institutional definitions of leadership. The rationale I get from those who would talk to me is that the books aren`t reality. So this got me thinking about starting a topic that is devoted to the nuts and bolts of leadership, and how it is used in the business world.

Leadership to me is having the charisma and skills to lead people and projects to completion, or continue with steady momentum in the most effective manner possible. Not only marshalling this movement, but doing so in a way that everyone involved is sold on the idea they are involved with. Leadership is a set of actual tools that can be used to achieve these results.

This of course leads to another area or sub-level of leadership and that is behavior modification, motivation, and effective emotional intelligence management.

So, how far does one go to become an effective leader? Is it enough to just say I have lead a project, and it was completed? Or do we need to dig deeper and learn the depths of what it really takes to lead people?

Classic and modern text books tell you the difference between management and leadership is the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Any comments on that?

How do you use leadership in your business practices? Is it a total situational based decision when you decide to use management tools as opposed to leadership tools?

Thanks.

Try this post, "Leadership vs. Servant."

Leadership can be defined in many ways depending on the situation you are in.
being a leader means, knowing how to take measured steps and getting a final result even when you are under the gun.
It means taking responsability for your own actions.

-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

If you`re not familiar with Tom Peters, visit his web site or read some of his books. He has excellent advice on this topic.

http://www.tompeters.com/

From Harvard:

http://hbsp2.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=174627#

http://hbsp2.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=172259#

http://hbsp2.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=165534#

How about Leadership vs. Management. Could anyone tell what is the difference? There has been a debate that a manager is a leader, but the deifinition for leader compromises the freedom for a manager to make decisions. Anyone!

Craig, I just spent an hour reading the post you linked too. This is wonderful, because it really illustrates my point. No one on that post really defined what an effective leader is, how leadership is accompished, nor what seperates a leader from a manager.

The problem I am seeing is that there are actualy qualities a leader must possess to be effective. There is a laundry list of traits and skills, (tools) that must be present and accounted for to be an effective leader. And no one is speaking of them.

Craig you seem to subscribe (at least your tone indicated) to the fact managers and leaders are the same. Is that true?

I saw the word charisma a few times in the other post, which is great. We had a debate the other night on, "are leaders born or made", obviously they are made, and all agreed in the end of the discussion, but certain apects like charisma make it difficult to agree with that notion.

Simply put, leaders are concerned with motivating and driving a concept or idea forward effectively. THAT IS ALL. The gray area here is the word effectively. Can this be subjective? Sure, but overall there is a consensus on what effectiveness means.

Managers simply put, fall under three categories. UPPER, MIDDLE, LOWER, which all share similar roles, but different objectives. Upper as you know makes the vision for the company, middle formulates and directs the vision to lower level manager, and lower level carries the day to day grind out. Yes I know this is one type of structure, but I was just pointing out that managers or decision makers make very calculated decisions bsed on the resources they have.

Leaders however, or more flexible making decision on the fly, really being concerned about keeping the concept moving, people motiviated, and the objective in sight. In the end the leader must reach the goal to be effective, and how many of the laundry list skills and trait they possess determines the quality of their effectiveness. In other words, are the people you lead still inspired when the job is done, or was the result on target with what you set out to do.

 

I think there is a clear difference bewteen management and leadership. Though often one person can be both, but there is a huge difference.

Finally, I think the study of modern day leadership is a must, because it is missing in a lot of companies I deal with, or have worked with.

Mike

I happen to be writing an eBook for church leaders and have a chapter on this exact topic. Here it is from my POV:

Leadership is about making sure everyone is doing the right thing. Management is about making sure things are done right.

If you start from these 2 concepts, everything else can be added or subtracted to isolate what is appropriate for your organization.

In my goal to be a leader for my employees, I find it is important to not only manage the project, but to nuture the people. That is, I help them set goals for the coming year, see where we want to go as a company, and help them meet those goals. (Sometimes it`s a little hard and my dreamers do get a little lofty, but I have to try!)

If I work with the mindset that I am there to push papers and direct people to get the job done, I am their manager.

If I concern myself with their personal/professional growth, push them to do better, lead by example with my own company goals and culture, expand all of us beyond our limits into new technologies and directions ... in that case, I am their leader.