
There is no clear, simple answer. And if you ask five people, you’ll get five different viewpoints. It is much more productive to explore the narratives around leadership. For example, how would you define the characteristics of leadership in your organization? It might be very different in another organization, and it might change as circumstances change.
If you simplify and package up leadership, you make it not fit for purpose. Leadership is contextual, important and complex. You’re much better off crunching through shared narratives and having difficult conversations about what it means and what is working and what is not working even if they are discomforting. These conversations can be profound learning experiences. If you come out the other end, having reflected on leadership in the context of your own organization, you end up with a deeper understanding of what leadership means and what you need to do to make it better.
But what is fascinating is that if you have a discussion about that, if you’re not obsessed with everyone applying the same model, you will have as rewarding a discussion about the things that didn’t work as the things that were successful.
That’s why Matthew Richter and I have designed our leadership capability series around the question ‘What does leadership mean in your context for you, and for your organization?’
Find our more about the Building Leadership Capability Series here.