On leadership

Leadership is defined as having the ability to socially influence others in such a way to get something done. Of course there's a bit more to it, and in fact there's an entire cottage industry that has sprouted up to teach us all exactly what good leadership is. Now it all goes without saying, there's a vast difference between what a boss is, what a manager is and what a leader is and yet at heart, all three need to have a unique awareness of the other and what those differences are.

Of course you can't delve too far into what makes a good leader without understanding what our current school of thoughts are. The first has to do with inherent traits, as in you're born with certain traits that rise to the occasion when needed. The second is basically one of process, in which you learn how to lead through interaction with others. Truth is, you and I know it's probably a bit of both, a little of this and some of that.

Some years back, OK, a whole lotta years back, I worked for a person who was just an ass. Yep, you know the kind. He would from time to time, sneak out at 2 or 3 in the morning and peek in windows just to make sure people were not sleeping. As a young kid entering the worlds work force, I found this a bit frightening when I head from my co workers that our boss would do this and I resolved he'd never catch me sleeping.

He never did! The take away is that after a few months I quickly learned that those he was responsible for supervising, ridiculed him for his behavior. He might have been a boss, but he was certainly no leader.

On another occasion, I asked him a simple question and he basically brushed me off and said something stupid about it wasn't my job to question.

Point being, a leader is one who trusts, who teaches. The catch is all this is why would any manager take the time to trust his employees or bother to answer their questions?

And that answer is what differentiates a leader from a generic boss or manager.

That's right, he cares! The fact that a good leader cares, isn't all inclusive, but it's the starting block for good leadership. If you don't care about the goals that need to be obtained, if you don't care for your employees, you're probably in the wrong position.