LEADERSHIP
Leadership Exploration
And Development (LEAD):
Inspiring Others Towards
Excellence
By. Dr. Mary Mugo (PhD, MMSK, MIHRM)
L
eadership is everything, be it in
an organization, a county or a
nation for when any institution
lacks excellent leadership the chance
for survival is limited. Warren Bennis
said that “a business short on capital
can borrow money and one with a poor
location can move but a business short on
leadership has little chance to survive”.
This is a confirmation to the importance
of leadership in any institution for even
if one was to change the leadership, time,
growth and money will definitely be lost
in the process.
Myles Munroe indicated that “all the
money in the world can make you rich, and
all the power in the world can make you
strong, but these things can never make
you a leader. You can inherit a fortune,
but never leadership”. Many people
equate leadership to riches and positions.
On the contrary the fact that one is rich
and has all the power on earth, does not
automatically make them leaders. The fact
that one holds a position be it political or
professional, does not necessarily mean
they are leaders.
Whether an organization, a county or a
nation grows, succeeds or fails is totally
dependent on the quality of leadership
they have. You cannot divorce success or
failure of an outfit from its leadership.
Any leader who blames others for the
organization problems is not worthy the
salt to occupy that position.
The word Leader is as old as the year
1300. There are as many definitions of
leadership as there are authors and there is
no single acceptable leadership definition,
theory, model or standard. What then is
the meaning of leader or leadership? Is
it a position, a person, a certain behavior,
a style, a combination of these or all the
above.
A Leader is a person who is able to
motivate people to accomplish a purpose.
Leaders are people who can influence the
behaviors of others without having to rely
on force. Leadership according to John
C Maxwell is influence - nothing more,
nothing less.
Myles Munroe on the other hand defines
leadership as the capacity to influence
others through inspiration motivated by a
passion, generated by a vision, produced
by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.
A Leader is a person who is able to mo-
tivate people to accomplish a purpose.
Leaders are people who can influence
the behaviors of others without having
to rely on force. Leadership according
to John C Maxwell is influence - nothing
more, nothing less.
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These definitions denote that a true leader
influences people through what they
believe in rather than coercion or bribery.
A true leader inspires his followers because
they have a vision which their followers
are willing to buy into. A leader can only
influence without force if they clearly
know where they are going and they
passionately believe in their destination.
Leadership, Management and Bosses are
terms that are used interchangeably yet
mean very different things. Leadership is
about influencing your followers to want
to achieve the organizational objectives
whereas Management is about attaining
the organizational goals through planning,
organizing, leading and controlling.
Leaders challenge the status quo, create
a vision for the future and inspire the
members. Managers on the other hand
bring order and consistency. Leadership
power comes from personal sources
whereas management power comes from
the organizational structure.
Leadership and management are however
related, but they are not the same. One
can be occupying a managerial position
but is not a leader. However organizations
need both leadership and management
if they are to be effective. This is because
Leadership is necessary to create change
and management is necessary to achieve
orderly results. As aptly put by Stephen
Covey, Management works in the system;
leadership works on the system!
Managers will get things done using the
power they have because of the position
they hold or withholding rewards.
Leaders get things done by inspiring and
motivating the employees. Leaders stir
up people to action as can be seen from