by Simon Hazeldine

"Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realise your own leadership potential."
Warren Bennis

In modern organisations (both in the public and private sector) there is a never-ending quest not only for sustained performance, but also for improved performance. Because of these increasing demands it is becoming increasingly common for people to discuss the importance of, and the need for, ‘leadership'.

There is an almost implicit assumption that ‘leadership' is a good thing for organisations to have. You only have to look at the commercial world and the iconic figures of leadership such as Jack Welch and Richard Branson to see the connection between leadership and the commercial success of an organisation.

And the pages of history are littered with famous people who are regarded as great leaders e.g. Mahatma Ghandi, Horatio Nelson and Winston Churchill to name but three. Figures such as these are held up as being examples of the importance of leadership.

This seemingly insatiable thirst for ‘leadership' has given rise to countless books promising to reveal the ‘secrets' of leadership; a huge array of leadership development programmes (with an estimated $60 billion dollars being spent on leadership development globally) and countless volumes of academic research.

But what on earth is ‘leadership' and what is a ‘leader'? The dictionary definition of a leader is ‘someone who leads'. Hmm... not much help to be had from the dictionary!

Whilst there are many definitions of leadership available, a practical and workable summary is that effective leaders:

"Establish and provide vision and direction to their organisation (or their part of an organisation).They align people behind the vision and direction and then inspire and motivate people to achieve what is required."

And never has this need for direction been more obvious. We live in a rapidly and constantly-changing world. The waves of change sweeping our planet include globalisation, demographic shifts and the impact of new technology.

Whilst there has always been change in human history, a recent white paper from the McKinsey Society for Organisational Learning stated:

"The pace of change is somehow faster, the frequency and amplitude of restructuring and reforming are significantly greater, and the pathways of emerging futures seem to be less predictable than they were in earlier times."

With this turbulence as a backdrop is it any wonder that organisations are increasingly looking for strong leaders to provide direction?

And whilst academics, management gurus, authors and businesses will continue to argue and debate just what ‘leadership' is, this is of little help in the here-and-now reality that you operate in.

As a modern leader you need some practical and pragmatic insight into what is commonly agreed upon as good leadership, and how you can develop your own personal ability as a leader.

It is my hope that this series of articles will provide at least some food for thought about what leadership is, and more importantly for you to develop your ability as a leader.

It does not matter what sort of organisation you are part of or at what level you work in your organisation. The commonly held wisdom is that all organisations need leaders, and they need them at all levels within the organisation. Leadership is never solely the preserve of the senior management in an organisation. Leaders can and should exist throughout an organisation.

Perhaps your first step is to have clarity on your own definition of leadership. And as a wise man once said, "Anyone who knows anything about what leadership is, knows that they don't know much about what leadership is."

Simon Hazeldine (http://www.simonhazeldine.com) is a best selling author, professional speaker and performance consultant. He is passionate about helping individuals and organisations improve their performance.

Simon has run leadership development programs in over 15 countries across 4 continents. He is the bestselling author of Bare Knuckle Selling, BareKnuckle Negotiating, Bare Knuckle Customer Service and The Inner Winner.