What Is Leadership?

     Leadership has probably been written about, formally researched, and informally discussed more than any other single topic. Despite all this attention given to leadership, there is still considerable controversy. For example, in a recent article, leadership guru Warren Bennis gives the title "The End of Leadership" to make his point that effective leadership cannot exist without the full inclusion, initiatives, and the cooperation of employees. In other words, one cannot be a great leader without great followers. Another leadership guru, Barry Posner, makes the following observations about the needed change in how business leadership is viewed:

In the past, business believed that a leader was like the captain of a ship: cool, calm, collected. Now, we see that leaders need to be human. They need to be in touch, they need to be empathetic, and they need to be with people. Leaders need to be a part of what's going on, not apart from what's going on.

   In spite of the seeming discontent at least with the traditional approaches to leadership theory and practice, throughout history the difference between success and failure, whether in a war, a business, a protest movement, or a basketball game, has been attributed to leadership. A recent Gallup survey indicates that most employees believe that it is the leader, not the company, that guides the culture and creates situations where workers can be happy and successful.

   Regardless of all the attention given to leadership and its recognized importance, it does remain pretty much of a "black box," or unexplainable concept. It is known to exist and to have a tremendous influence on human performance, but its inner workings and specific dimensions cannot be precisely spelled out. Despite these inherent difficulties, many attempts have been made over the years to define leadership. Unfortunately, almost everyone who studies or writes about leadership defines it differently. About the only commonality is the role that influence plays in leadership.

   In recent years, many theorists and practitioners have emphasized the difference between managers and leaders. For example, as Bennis has noted: "To survive in the twenty-first century, we are going to need a new generation of leaders—leaders, not managers. The distinction is an important one. Leaders conquer the context—the volatile, turbulent, ambiguous surroundings that sometimes seem to conspire against us and will surely suffocate us if we let them—while managers surrender to it". He then goes on to point out his thoughts on some specific differences between leaders and managers, as shown in table (1). Obviously, these are not scientifically derived differences, but it is probably true that an individual can be a leader without being a manager and be a manager without being a leader.

   Although many specific definitions could be cited, most would depend on the theoretical orientation taken. Besides influence, leadership has been defined in terms of group processes, personality compliance, particular behaviors, persuasion, power, goal achievement, interaction, role differentiation, initiation of structure, and combinations of two or more of these. The extremely turbulent, adverse environment facing organizational leaders in recent years has led Bennis and Thomas to recently conclude:

One of the most reliable indicators and predictors of true leadership is an individual's ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from even the most trying circumstances. Put another way, the skills required to conquer adversity and emerge stronger and more committed than ever are the same ones that make for extraordinary leaders.

   Perhaps as good a simple definition as any comes from a Fortune article, which states: "When you boil it all down, contemporary leadership seems to be a matter of aligning people toward common goals and empowering them to take the actions needed to reach them". Whatever specific definition is used is not important. what is important is to interpret leadership in terms of the specific theoretical process and to realize that leadership, however defined, does make a difference.

Table (1)

Some Characteristics of Managers versus Leaders in the 21 Century

Manager Characteristics	Leader Characteristics
Administers	Innovates
A copy	An Original
Maintains	Develops
Focuses on systems and structure	Focuses on people
Relies on control	Inspires trust
Short-range view	Long-range perspective
Asks how and when	Asks what and why
Eye on the bottom line	Eye on the horizon
Imitates	Originates
Accepts the status quo	Challenges the status quo
Classic good soldier	Own person
Does things right	Does the right thing

References

• Warren Bennis, "The End of Leadership", Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1999, pp.71-80. Also see Warren Bennis, "Leading in Unnerving Times", MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2001, pp.97-103.
• Quoted in Tricia Bisoux, "The Mind of a Leader", Biz ED, September/October 2002, p.26.
• "It's the Manager, Stupid", The Economist, August 8, 1998, p.54.
• Gary Yukl, Angela Gordon, and Tom Taber, "A Hierarchical Taxonomy of Leadership Behavior: Integrating a Half Century of Behavior Research", Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Vol.9, No.1, 2002, pp.15-32.
• For some basic research on influence, see Herman Aguinis, Mitchell S. Nesler, Megumi Hosoda, and James T. Tedeschi, "The Use of Influence Tactics in Persuasion", Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.124, No.4, 1994, pp.429-438.
• Warren G. Bennis, "Managing the Dream: Leadership in the 21st Century", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol.2, No.1, 1989, p.7. Also see      W. Glenn Rowe, "Creating Wealth in Organizations: The Role of Strategic Leadership", Academy of Management Executive, Vol.15, No.1, 2001, pp.81-94.
• Bernard M. Bass, Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership, 3rd ed., Free Press, New York, 1990, p.11.
• Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas, "Crucibles of Leadership", Harvard Business Review, September 2002, p.39. Stratford Sherman, "How Tomorrow's Best Leaders Are Learning Their Stuff", Fortune, November 27, 1995, p.92.