Leadership

Leadership

Introduction

According to its definition, leadership is the ability to influence people, so much so that they end up putting all of their weight behind the pursuit of goals dictated by the leader. True leaders are the ones who command respect and trust from their followers, not because of their ability to reward or punish but because of their personality, character and their contribution in improving the lives of their followers. Leaders who spend their energy and time in leading through the head are so occupied with evaluating every decision in light of its cost-benefit ratio that they are never able to command that respect and trust which is the trademark of an authentic leader. Only when a leader puts his heart to the task, leaves his comfort zones and goes out of the way to help his followers that is when truly impresses and influences his followers (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).

Discussion

Consider the example of some of the greatest leaders that have ever lived on this planet; Gandhi, Spartacus, Lincoln, Churchill, Mandela, Washington, Hitler, Castro and others. Spartacus was able to lead an unconventional army of rebels and slaves primarily because he made it his life's mission to ensure an end to the tyranny and oppression of slaves by the Roman Empire. His sole focus was to put an end to slavery and create a world where equality would be the order of the day. He lived a life of danger and uncertainty, but he was able to shake the Roman Empire to its absolute core only because his motivation for the same was his passion of the heart (Crowley, 2011).

Nelson Mandela did not spend almost three decades in jail and went never ending hardships because ending racial discrimination in South Africa was some “corporate project” for him, but it was his ...