Leadership

What makes a leader?

Rank? Status? Celebrity? Caste? Clout? Style? Is leadership automatically
bestowed by a box on the organizational chart? Where do position and power figure into
the formula for leadership? And what is the ideal model for leaders? Is it the corporate
CEO? The military commander? The head of state?
Jesus answered all those questions in a few words. His views on leadership are
conspicuously out of step with the conventional wisdom of our age: You know that the
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over
them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you,
let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be rst among you, let him be your slave
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a
ransom for many (Matthew 20:2528).
According to Christ, then, the truest kind of leadership demands:
Service
Sacrifice
Selflessness.
A proud and self-promoting person is not a good leader by Christ's standard,
regardless of how much clout he or she might wield. Leaders who look to Christ as their
Leader and their supreme model of leadership will have servants hearts. They will
exemplify sacrifice. Those are not characteristics most people associate with leadership,
but they are essential qualities of a biblical approach to leadership.
Leadership is influence:
The ideal leader is someone whose life and character motivate people to follow.
The best kind of leadership derives its authority first from the force of a righteous
example, and not merely from the power of prestige, personality, or position. By contrast,
much of the world's leadership is nothing but manipulation of people by threats and
rewards. That is not true leadership; it's exploitation. Real leadership seeks to motivate
people from the inside, by an appeal to the heart, not by external pressure and coercion.
For all those reasons, leadership is not about style or technique as much as it is about
character.

The Psychological Matrix of Leadership

The Key to understanting leadership:
Lies in recent findings and concepts in psychology. For the student of leadership
this field is filled with hazards as well as riches. Psychological theories that have verged
on a "biologistic" view of leadership, drawing on studies of animal behavior, have
tended to misconceive leadership as simply control or rulership. Extended observation of
primates has suggested, on the other hand, that animals too indulge in various forms of
leadership.
In one experiment designed explicitly to answer the question whether leaders
needed followers, a chimpanzee was shown some food hidden under leaves and grass and
then led back to rejoin his group. Soon he was trying to persuade the others to follow him
to the food. He rushed from one follower to another, grimacing, tapping him on the
shoulder, screaming, and sometimes grabbing a companion and dragging him toward the
food. All this, according to the observer (at the Delta Regional Primate Research Center),
suggested that group cohesion was strong and the leader was as dependent upon the
group for getting to the food as they were dependent on him in knowing precisely where
to go.
A study of goat behavior concluded that the phenomena of dominance and
leadership were not correlated but the result of two separate learning processes, Studies
of imprinting by Lorenz and others found that following responses" were set at
intervals early in an animals life and tend to persist.
Finder bees are known to communicate the location of food by indicating the
nature and direction of the food through variations in buzzing and flower scents exuded
from their body.
Another, quite different biological emphasis in the study of leadership is the assumption
of male leadership, especially at the higher levels of power. Over the centuries femininity
has been stereotyped as dependent.
In some cultures, in consequence, women are cut off from power positions as well
as from the stepping stones and access routes that reach toward leadership.
The psychological approach to leadership has its own biases.

Leadership Traits
Strong Character
One thing that sets a leader apart from other mortals is his/her ability to bounce
back after a slowdown. Strength of character is what really defines a leader. To lead a
team of people or an organization, a leader needs to be cool, composed, and confident
enough to drive his team to the edge.
Good Communications
Good communication skills are vital to every leader. The ability to communicate a
message across convincingly and forcefully is imperative to any leader. Hence, some
amount of expertise over oral communication is called for. However, that isnt enough. A
leader should also be a patient listener, attending to the problems and grudges of his team,
and finding effective solutions to ward off all differences and motivating his/her team to
be more forthcoming about their ideas, opinions, and issues.
People Skills
People skills are pertinent for effective leadership. The support and co-ordination
between the leader and employees is what drives an organization to success. Reaching
out to people, treating every member in the team as individual, and encouraging them to
be more approaching are some of the key traits that a leader should have.
Responsible
Sir Winston Churchill was so right when he said, The price of greatness is
responsibility. Responsibility is indeed the greatest virtues of a leader. A leader never
shrugs from taking responsibility. No matter whose fault it is, a leader is ever willing to
take responsibility and even make a few unpopular decisions, if need be. A leader never
lets his personal differences get in the way of his professional undertakings and maintains
a positive attitude, no matter how odd things are.
Initiative And Inspirational
A leader is more than just the head of the horde. He is someone whom people
turns to seek for advice and answers, someone whom people look up to and are in awe of,
someone who instills confidence and trust among his people. He is a visionary and has
strength of conviction that automatically drives people to follow him. He stirs people to
strive for their dreams and meet their aspirations. He initiates, he inspires, and is surely a
man of integrity. He stands up for the right and opposes the wrong. He honors his
commitments and is respectful, consistent, and humble.
Decision Making Ability
No matter how big the odds are how difficult the situation is, a leader never shies
away from making decisions, never mind how unpopular they may be. The growth of any
organization largely depends on the decisions made by their top leaders. The ability to

make decision serves as a very important quality of a leader as it not only decides the
career of a leader, but also can change the fate of the organization.
Leadership doesnt come with the tag of a manager or supervisor. One has to strive
constantly and battle all odds to evolve as a true leader.
Reference:
*The Book On Leadership - John MacArthur
*Leadership - James MacGregor Burns