I am not an expert in the area of Leadership, but I do have a genuine passion for Leadership. I read books about leadership. I take classes. I attend seminars and conferences. I teach others about leadership. I volunteer for activities that will utilize my current capabilities and also stretch me to grow. I ask for feedback. I do self reflection. In a nut shell, I do a lot of different things so that I can become a better person and a better leader. I feel as if I have learned a lot and yet I also feel that I have so much more to learn. I thought blogging would be a good way to share my perspectives and learn from others.

Just for fun, I thought I would look up the definition of Leader. To my surprise, the source I used had 56 different definitions.

You have the noun definition which includes:

• a person or thing that leads.
• a guiding or directing head, as of an army, movement, or political group.
• a horse harnessed at the front of a team.

Then you have the definitions that are verbs (used with objects)

• to go before or with to show the way
• to influence or induce
• to guide in direction, course, action, opinion, etc

And you have the definitions that are verbs (used without objects)

• to act as a guide; show the way
• to go first; be in advance
• to result in; tend toward
• to make the first play.

There are a few things that jumped out at me.  Leadership is about being out in front. Leaders guide, take action and they get results!

But what makes some leaders, great leaders, that we want to follow and others feel more like you’re looking at the horses behind? (Recall the one definition of “a horse harnessed at the front of a team”)

If you are reading this, I’d love to hear what you think about it.