What makes you a LEADER?

What makes you a leader?

I was in a meeting the other day, and a very intelligent HR expert asked me something that I never thought about before - Why do people follow leaders?

The most simple answer you will get is about this elusive ingredient in the complex set of human skills and capabilities called charisma.

But life isn't that simple, neither is the answer to this question.

A leader is followed because people react to their personality. Charisma is definitely a key ingredient but not the only one.

People follow leaders because they have a vision. People who connect to the vision will follow it's generator. They will often feel that they can reach new summits and overcome complex challenges by following the visionary and their vision.

People also follow leaders who provide them with trust, safety and support. Leaders are those who make people feel that they are trusted, treat their team respectfully, give them space, allow them to fail and help them learn from their failures and rise to new horizons.

People obviously follow leaders who are very good at what they do, but will rather follow those highly professionals who are happy to share their skills and knowledge with their teams.

If you ask leaders what is it that makes people follow them, I'm not sure that they will have an answer right away.

Leadership comes from the inside, it's embedded in your system, that's why you can't easily explain what makes you a leader. Yes, you can practice being a good leader, but you have to have the main ingredients in you.

(Amos Neumann is a consultant and strategist for companies in crossroads or facing changes and new challenges in their industries)

#straegy #practicalstrategy #consulting  #CEO #leaderslead