Topic > What Leadership Means to You: Listening, Asking, and Conducting Assessments

IndexIntroductionDefine leadership in your own wordsConclusionIntroductionThere are many varieties of leaders in action, both good and bad. Not everyone is given the chance to be a leader, not all leaders are good. “What does it mean to be a leader?” is the main question of this essay. What does leadership mean to you? How to be a good leader or what is the essence of being a good leader? How to be a model? What qualities must be to be a good leader? What are the characteristics that a good leader should possess? If I were asked to define what a leader is, I would define it as the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayDefine Leadership in Your Own WordsLately I've been really focusing on what leadership means to me. Many times when I come across the word leader I see the word follower attached. In my opinion, leadership is not about attracting others to follow you. At least for me, this conveys a sense of power, authority, and control that may serve well in the short term to get others to fall in line through compliance, but does not create the conditions needed to sustain change. I believe that the definition of a good leader and the resulting perception of the term leader needs renewal. "The greatest leader isn't necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He's the one who convinces people to do the greatest things." (Reagan, R.2017) Great leaders don't tell people what to do, but instead get them where they need to be. There is no program for creating a harem of followers or disciples. True leaders know that their success is intimately linked to the work of the community. One person does not win a war, an election. It's a team approach where every person in the organization knows they have an important role to play. I can also confidently say that it's not just one person who builds a successful business. This same principle certainly applies to schools and districts. As I've written in the past, leadership is all about action, not position. The command-and-control types who locked themselves in their ivory towers – ruling by fear and intimidation – were the worst to work with or for. They were also the most ineffective. They usually didn't know what was really happening in their organizations. They have not learned and grown from their experiences. And their organizations inevitably suffered from low morale, low productivity, and high turnover. Being a leader is a great opportunity but not all leaders have good characteristics and for this reason it represents a great challenge for him. Being a good leader is one who serves and not being served. Being a good leader is one who takes risks for the sake of others but at the same time listens to the opinions of his subordinates. No leader can do everything alone. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. As such, leaders must embrace a sense of flexibility and openness to change accordingly in certain instances. The ability to adapt to a variety of situations, challenges and pressures is critical to achieving goals. As leaders adapt, they evolve into better leaders. The fundamental essence of leadership is its purpose. You will never be a good leader if you don't know how to lead and if you don't know what your purpose in leading is. A great leader leads from the front and never asks others to do what he himself is not willing to do. Yet too often we expect determination, reliability, focus, responsibility, integrity and a host of other qualities in people..