• Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a inspiring, challengin goal.
John Maxwell: “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.”
I like minimalism but this reduction is too much. A robber with a gun has “influence” over his victim. A manager has the power to fire team members which provides a lot of influence. But does this influence make a robber or a manager a leader? Maxwell’s definition omits the source of influence.
So what is leadership?
DEFINITION: Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of an inspiring, challenging goal.
Notice key elements of this definition:
• Leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power
• Leadership requires others, and that implies they don’t need to be “direct reports”
• No mention of personality traits, attributes, or even a title; there are many styles, many paths, to effective leadership
• It includes an inspiring, challenging goal, not influence with no intended outcome
Lastly, what makes this definition so different from many of the academic definitions out there is the inclusion of “maximizes the efforts”. Engaged employees give discretionary effort.
I guess technically a leader could use social influence to just organize the efforts of others, but I think leadership is about maximizing the effort. It’s not, “Hey everyone, let’s line up and get to the top of that hill someday.” But rather, “Hey, see that hill? Let’s see how fast we can get to the top…and I’ll buy the first round for anyone who can beat me up there.” Social influence, others, maximize effort, towards a goal.
Steve if you are going to head team Peregrine, with all the benefits you provide yourself, then lead it! Set your goals high and influence others to maximum effort. You can’t afford a lazy approach to uninspiring goals at this point in time i.e. 2 years to profitability at Avid with so much fat that a pig would choke on it. I’ll bet my house on that. If that is the real goal then you are not a leader – you are an uninspiring figure head that is likely over his head. Profitability in 6 mths is an inspiring, challenging goal and achievable. If you are laughing inside at that statement then you need to do the right thing for the whole and get out of the way and bring a true leader in. You simply have to open your mind to that possibility, see it and then set in motion the energy to deliver it. Set and communicate the vision. Challenge your people. Hold them accountable. Reward high performance and ensure everyone is pulling their weight and maximizing the results of the whole. Can’t is not in anyone’s vocabulary. IT CAN BE DONE! You show you can do this and then you can say you have earned those benefits that you provide yourself routinely. This is not about style, approach or position in the company. Results are the only true measure of leadership. Show that you can maximize results! STEP UP AS A LEADER or move back into the lab! Either way do right by the whole! No matter how much reward you provide yourself you will never truly be content in life until you maximize for the whole in a selfless way. You can’t be content with simply taking all the time – that is -- if you are human! Takers are bottom feeders.
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