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Management guru Peter Drucker made an important distinction between management and leadership when he wrote that, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing.” Among all the qualities and abilities that a manager needs to possess, leadership may well be the quality that makes the difference between a good manager and a great manager.
While leadership often eludes defining, a definition is a good place to start. Leadership is “A process by which a person influences others to accomplish and objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.” There is an ongoing debate as to whether good leaders are born with the innate ability to lead or if leadership can be taught. The answer may be that it may be a little of both. One writer noted that, “Good leaders are made not born.”
Leadership is built on integrity and honesty. Integrity infers predictability in action. Employees know and can depend on a leader’s actions to be fair, knowledgeable and above reproach. Honesty runs parallel to integrity. In today’s scandal riddled world, employees may expect a little dishonesty in a manager. It is the manager’s task to consistently demonstrate honesty by his or her actions.
Good leaders also have a vision – a plan to advance the organization – and the ability to communicate that vision to others with a passion that inspires them to contribute to it. This may be the most elusive and difficult leadership quality to achieve. However, remember that people want to be led and inspired to do their best.