There is a lot of talk about leadership, but what is it? What defines it?
It is definitely not a title, and most of the time it has to do nothing with Management. It is more of a mindset.
The “stuff” that leadership is made out of, is the willingness to stick your head out. It is about stepping up and taking responsibility.
Leaders can be perceived as strong and stubborn, but I may contest that great leaders are better described with two different adjectives: resilient and committed, and that commitment implies a vivid vision and empathy with their followers.
As puzzling as it may be, on the other side, leadership inside an organization can be really fragile and fleeting. For a leader who steps up every time the occasion calls for it and is repeatedly discouraged, it doesn’t take too long for her to move on to a different organization that better appreciates their attitude. With her, a portion of the organization’s leadership is also lost and moves on.