How to be a leader vs. a boss

“Attitude reflects leadership, captain” is a now-famous quote from the movie?"Remember the Titans".?While this movie is about American high school football, the sentiment remains: a good or bad attitude comes from the top down.

Great leadership elevates the?we?over the?me. The right mental model for leadership isn’t a title or pay raise, leadership is a choice to take responsibility on answering key questions. Leadership often means?playing an active and visible role in the everyday running of a company or organization.

Authority vs Leadership

Great leaders are trusted for their judgment and respected for their expertise, integrity and therefor followed, regardless of holding a certain position. For example Gandhi for most part did not hold any official position to lead the Indian freedom struggle.

It is also important to understand that a formal authority might not always be able to influence people in the desired manner. In times of crisis and difficulties, people view authority as a form of coercion. On the other hand leadership tends to create followers out of free will and choice without forcing them to accept anything thrown their way.

Authority rarely provides scope for feedback, constructive criticism, or opinions of the people over whom it is exercised, however leaders provide ample platform to their followers to voice their thoughts and feedback.

Below is a great video of Steve Jobs expressing the need to manage and empower his team.

Leadership Qualities?Vs Leadership Behaviours

There are certain characteristics that draw us to other people and certain personality traits that magnetically attract some people to others.

That’s why we associate certain characteristics with leadership. It’s a widely held belief, for example, that?leaders are naturally charismatic. The way they speak, their ability to command attention, their presence and gravitas… there’s just something about these people that makes them seem worthy of our esteem and attention.

Leadership Skills

• Great understanding of people and internal capabilities
• Clear vision on the customer and the market
• Knowledge on operations and performance
• Capable to understand technology and business models

Leadership behaviours

• Outcome driven and decisive
• Dedicated to the development and growth of the people
• Networked based and un-hierarchical
• Inspiring and caring for the people

Some leaders might have some leadership skills, great leaders have to have both skills and behaviours

Not so long time ago I had professional experience that was very marking for me as leader. As a developing leader in an organization that was for the majority Authoritarian, I felt that some of my leadership traits were considered good but not ideal; I was consider a "player coach", a jack of all trades, but master of none. The reason for this was a mismatch between my skill set and the organizations perception of authority.

I pride myself on developing my craft as a professional and in the more recent years as a leader. This means I had focus on leadership skills creating clear visions, acquiring knowledge on operations understanding the culture and its people, while at the same time developing new technologies and business models. Next to this I also dedicated time to the personal and professional growth of my team by inspiring and take care of the people within my realm of influence.

Before departing the organization I had a discussion with the head of HR on my development as leader, during which it became clear to me that the organizations vision of good leadership skills reflected more the authoritarian model. Instead of focussing on both skills and behaviours, they focused solely on leadership skills, which for me personally meant I had to explore other opportunities.

Authentic Leadership

Authentic leadership is a management style in which leaders are genuine, self-aware, and transparent. An authentic leader is able to inspire loyalty and trust in their employees by consistently displaying who they really are as a person, and how they feel about their employees' performance. Authentic leadership is the single strongest predictor of an employee's job satisfaction.

Below is and inspiring video that demonstrates Authentic Leadership

Lead From the Front

As a leadership style I always prefer to lead from the front, which means playing an active and visible role in the everyday running of a company or organization. Leaders who adopt this style choose to connect with team members, customers, and stakeholders on the “front line” of the operation.

I take great examples of leadership from some of my leaders and mentors from the past. Sometimes great leadership inspiration can also come from fictional examples. I enjoyed the HBO series Band of Brothers, where some good examples can be found of great leadership as well. You can't really find any better example of leading from the front than the army.

3 Potential Pros of Leading From the Front

Leading from the front can be a more effective strategy than leading from behind, depending on the size of your organization and the specific challenge your team faces. Here are some of its most beneficial potential effects:

Better morale: Establishing yourself as empathetic and communicative?is an important part of becoming a better leader. Leading from the front allows you to interact directly with employees, whether they’re in leadership roles or lower-level positions.

Greater flexibility: Leading from the front can give you the chance to be more responsive to crises or difficult situations. Since those who lead from the front often have access to on-the-ground information, they can react quickly and directly as a situation changes.

More holistic decision-making: Leading from the front often involves spending time with different people at different levels and from different parts of the organization.

Might you be interested in discussing Leadership in your organization, or if you are considering becoming a leader, please feel free to contact me as I am always willing to share my experiences and in return learn from others.