A leadership opportunity (or need) appears each time two or more people gather to embark on a joint task.
Leadership is a learned skill that anyone can acquire, it is the art of influencing others, working their enthusiasms and reaching a common goal that can be called "common good".
We are not going to go into the detail of the definition of “common good” since philosophically it is very complicated, but it is understood that this objective or common good is the complete opposite of the needs or preferences of a single individual or group of them.
There are clearly two ways to influence, through power or authority. We all agree that authority is superior, moreover, the leader who influences by power is always afraid of the person who is a leader by authority. But what do we do when the employees do not respect us as authority? How can we not use power and say to them: "You have to do it or you are out of a job"? It really is very difficult to work with people.
A leader by authority becomes one because his employees appreciate him, have respect for him and are comfortable with him. But he must never fall into posing as a friend, or a buddy, that would be fatal. The leader must correct, when there is no other choice he must exercise power and make it clear that he was forced to take those measures.
We are used to seeing the hierarchy of a company from the CEO at the top to the front line employee. Now let's change our idea and put the client up, this would automatically flip the pyramid and we would have something like this:
Clients >> front-line employees >> supervisors >> middle managers >> vice president >> presidents.
The customer is the most important thing for a company, therefore the employee who serves them is the second most important person. What would the president think of this?
The leader is someone who meets the legitimate needs of his people and removes all obstacles so that they can properly serve customers.
To finish, a leader must have humility, affability, respect, generosity, indulgence, honesty, commitment. Not difficult?
Start by looking at yourself and try to acquire these values, at first you will be an inexperienced but conscious, then over time you will become an experienced conscious and when you least realize it you will be an unconscious expert. Being a leader can be learned, you are not born.
Based on James C. Hunter's “An Overview of the True Essence of Leadership”.
