Why is Leadership Important?

We spend a lot of energy and time thinking about leadership.

We try to understand it, to put it to work for ourselves. We wonder how people become leaders, whether they are born leaders or are made along the way. We identify and evaluate leadership styles, assessing which are the most effective. We analyze the components of leadership, trying to decide whether communication or vision or planning is most helpful. We study the cultural aspects of leadership. We speculate on who makes the best leaders.

Most of us recognize that leadership is a crucial role in our society. We may have leaders in whom we are particularly interested, or even who we most admire.

We spend our careers thinking about leadership, but often forget the essential question.

Why leadership? What makes leadership important?

I have wanted to be a leader for longer than I can remember, since well before I had any idea what leaders really do. It does not take any real experience or insight to know we believe it is better to be a leader than not to be one.

We live in a world that reveres leaders. We project onto them the qualities we hope they have. We expect leaders to help us solve our problems, to help us learn deep lessons. We want our leaders to make the world a better place, at least for us.

Many people believe that the world is divided into those who are leaders and those who are not. I disagree. I believe each of us has the potential to be our own kind of leader. I believe we become leaders by exploring our core values and putting them into practice every day.

Leadership is essential to me because it is both personal and practical.

Why is leadership important to you?

[Image by Ksayer1]