Great leadership tells the truth with understanding, seeks to learn as much as possible about any issue requiring actions, acts with confidence once a decision is made and then keeps the team motivated and focused toward the desired outcome. When successful, a great leader deflects to his team. When unsuccessful, a great leader does his best to figure out why, takes actions to prevent repeating the failure and, if appropriate, takes personal responsibility.

Making the right decisions in work and in life can be very difficult. Executing the right strategies can prove even more elusive. Providing great leadership, however, should not be as rare as it seems to be in most organizations. A better question might be, "What creates a great leadership culture where great leaders aren't afraid to lead?"

Great leader? sure...let's keep it simple, one who leads by example, makes decisions, one who know (s)he either knows or doesn't know and is smart enough to get the hell out of the way when (s)he doesn't know and let the underlings follow through and do the job for them. One is confident enough in their own ego that they can say, "My team made me look good," step back and let them take the bow, and know that it is true, AND NOT CARE ABOUT IT. A great leader is someone who I can say, "it's going to be OK, Boss," and I can see him relax - because he can believe me.
That's a great leader.

When a leader has no followers then he is merely taking a walk. This paraphrases my favorite quote from John Maxwell. Great leadership should not be rare, it should be common. It requires courage, and a keen sense of the higher good for the people that we lead. These are times when we need to find and nurture great leaders.

The definition of leadership that I use in my writing and work is: leadership means inspiring others to commit their energy to a common purpose. I spent a whole book talking about how to do that, what commitment means, what engagement means, what common purpose means, etc.

I also like what a client once said: management is about allocating the available human energy, while leadership is about raising the level of human energy that is available.

Leadership: I started a club over here in Spain - called the Women in Business Club. I saw a great need to educate the women here about business and being an entrepreneur as unemployment is extremely high and women are the biggest percentage. That being said - I was forced to become a leader and I found that I don't like it.

I don't mind the educational part or the networking events - but the confrontation is hard. The club has grown at a super fast rate - and I find that I am not inspiring the women as I did in the beginning.

Leadership is hard. I am wondering what to do?
Any suggestions?

Thank You
Karla Darocas

Leader is who leads the people or team.A great leader is who changes the thought process of the people in a direction required.He listens to all,has tolerance capacity to the optimum and can bear the stress,can sail against the wind to achieve the deisred objective with all.A personality with all humility.

Proselytizing over leadership vs. management is noble. However, what Doug and the others here say about leadership is completely disconnected with the real world. The reality is that when given the choice between a great leader - who cultivated his/her staff - or the manager - who cultivated the best perception - perception will always trump noble intentions.

[Borrowing heavily from Kurt above…] To be a successful manager in the current job market, you have to bend the truth to form a favorable perception, obfuscate any issues requiring actions, and be the ultimate expert on every subject while belittling the minions for being ignorant enough to form a professional opinion contrary to what you and the executive wing perceives as the truth.

When a project is successful, managers accept all the kudos for being brilliant since he/she directs a team of backwoods idiots who can barely remember where they parked each day. When unsuccessful, the manager re-directs as much of the responsibility to his/her subordinates in order to maintain his/her own favorable perception. I am no longer dumbfounded whenever the most ‘successful’ managers are rewarded for having the slickest coats of Teflon.

Upon completion of a project, a good leader should facilitate his/her team through a discussion on what lessons were learned and what everyone can do differently in the future. Managers simply call the miscreants into his/her office to read off a laundry-list of what the individuals did wrong and why it is going into the idiot's personnel file. This makes it simple for when the company culls 15% of the workforce to show quarterly double-digit revenue increases.

Writing about what makes a good leader is easy. Motivating companies to develop leadership - not management - is the real challenge. There's no profit margin in it. If anyone finds a way to generate revenue from integrity and noble intent, please let the rest of us mired in day-to-day reality know.

The leadership should understand each person goals in life, thier cultural, write down each individual personalities, and how to direct each individual differently. It is true by using this long method can give a positive goal. Some people needs more leadership than others. I also believe by patience and dedication can provide a successful leadership. I am assuming that you are using same approach of your leadership that is boresome. As you know also that women in Spain has a long history as housewives not entrepreneur. A leadership should never accept that women in Spain are not backwards in business. If you show them the kitchen, they know exactly what to do. I also know there are lots of disagreements between themselves. That is where your dedication of understanding why is this happening. That is where you need to be at your best.

A great leader is inspiring and inspired, intuitive, collaborative, a multifaceted and integrated thinker, holds a Both/And perspective, flexible and creative, highly developed emotional intelligence, inclusive, elicits the best in her team, connects with others, a communicator who isn't always trying to win a contest. In short, a woman. Often. Where ARE the women in this month's "leadership" issue?

To Karla Darocas.

I'm wondering if you might be able to enlist the help of the early benefactors of your inspiration to keep the energy fueled and share the leadership role. You could then coordinate with them as things develope. More along the lines of a Inspiration Counsil. I'm certain that there are other's who share your passion.

Sounds like it's becoming quite a struggle being spread thin when so many are calling upon you to lead.

James Stanuszek

A great leader is one who creates value for his or her organization. This certainly includes the skills mentioned within these posts (understanding, motivating, and leading employees), but the "soft" skills we hear so much about when we discuss leadership only make up a part of the total picture.

A great leader is also one who creates financial value for an organization. In other words, a great leader positively affects the bottom line. Dr. E. Ted Prince, in his new book "The 3 Financial Styles of Very Successful Leaders" defines a new concept called the "Financial Signature". This concept allows a leader to know how his or her personality affects the financial outcome of their organization. Essentially, it allows leaders to know themselves--how they can succeed and where they need to use caution.

How a leader's actions affect the financial outcome of their organization is an obvious, but overlooked part of how leadership is measured. People skills are certainly an important aspect, but there's more to leadership than just leading. It's also doing, and doing it well.

For Karla Darocas:
In response to your comments - perhaps reading Peter Senge material and considering information shared through Strengthfinders may be helpful in finding new possibilities.
Wilhelmina