Leadership

What is leadership?

There are different definitions & quotes of leadership but what attracted me the most was of Indira Gandhi (Indian Politician & Prime Minister 1917-1984) as she quotes

"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people"

Who is a leader?

A leader is a one who can get along with people, influence a group of individuals, make them follow a unique path which leads to the ultimate destination. They also know what they want & how to communicate it to his followers.

An individual cannot be a leader at one stroke. He has to follow sequential & unique paths to make history. Circumstances, Character & the Behaviour of an individual influences the society to accept him as a leader.

Traits

Traits are the qualities & attributes possessed by a leader. Personal traits are important in determining who will & who will not be comfortable leading others. As we study the lives of great people like Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill & Margaret Thatcher we come to a conclusion that they have some exceptional qualities. These qualities may be suitable for a particular situation but not the other. Take the case of Winston Churchill, he lost the election after he led Britain to victory in the second world war. The British people might have believed that the man who had led the nation so well in war was not the best man to lead it in peace. So we should take situation into consideration when we compare traits of a leader. There are basic qualities which are suit different situations like vision, passion for work, team building etc. Let us look at the trait research conducted by Stogdill (1948) & Stogdill (1974) & their reports.

mystifying