What and how do leaders do things differently ..

Leaders have made the world. Great leaders who have led people and countries through conflicts and social problems have helped change the world. Religious leaders have appealed to the common ethic of the society and helped create religions and communities that go according to specific guidelines that have evolved over centuries. 

Leaders of industrial organisations have guided organisations through trying times in their growth. How Henry Ford brought about revolution and change in the automobile industry of the world and how Thomas Edison through his far reaching scientific prowess came up with inventions that changes a generation altogether are great examples of what leadership and scientific insight can do to industrial societies. What is more important is leaders guide people, societies and organisations through difficult times.

The other day I was going through an HBR article on leadership by Allison, Wei and Brianna in the August '20 issue, What's your leadership story . Quite interesting and insightful. The interesting thing I found about HBR articles is that these  articles do give cutting edge research on people and organisations across the world, helping further the frontier of knowledge. This helps organisations and individuals to keep abreast of developments in their area of interest. 

The article mentions about a research study that was done on 92 leaders in different walks of life to find what circumstances prompted them to take on leadership roles. It was like how they looked through 4 lenses of life expectations and experiences. These 4 lenses are as given below.

1. Being - having natural traits of leadership,  accepting responsibilities and rising to the occasion comes naturally to these people. John F. Kennedy was an American President who had the natural charisma and capabilities of a leader.

2. Engaging - these group of people engage with others and motivate them to perform and help attain higher goals and objectives 

Leaders become great not because of their power,  but of their ability to empower others. - John Maxwell

True leaders dont create followers,  they create more leaders.. Life of Jack Welch of GE is an example ..

3. Performing - these group of people individually carry out tasks to attain leadership roles

Great leaders don't tell you what to do, they show you how it's done.

4. Accepting - leadership is thrust on them due to their innate abilities or accomplishments. Mahatma Gandhi had leadership of Indian Congress thrust on him because of his profile as a successful lawyer and a humane individual who fought against racism in South Africa.

Great Leaders believe in delegating very important tasks to their colleagues and subordinates and only carry out super critical tasks which only they can accomplish. They also believe in motivating others by understanding their innate strengths and helping them succeed.

George