Will real leadership please step forward?(Management & Careers)

Whether the topic of water cooler conversation is the local school district, city government, corporate management, or national politics, someone is certain to say, "What's needed here is some real leadership." Invariably, the others nod knowingly and ruefully. Yet, when pressed to explain what is meant by real leadership, the speaker's authoritative air is likely to evaporate as soon as he or she begins to speak. The term is far easier to use than to define.

That leadership is difficult to define isn't as surprising as it seems. In fact, the diligent individual who decides to research the topic will probably come away even more perplexed after scanning the list of books written on the subject in the past few years. Recent titles range from Leadership Secrets" of Attila the Hun and Leadership Is an Art to Authentic Leadership, Enlightened Leadership, Servant Leadership, and even Monday Morning Leadership. All of these slants on the topic beg the pivotal question: "What is real leadership and how do people come to possess it?"

Reduced to its most straightforward, elegant definition, real leadership is that quality that inspires and enables others to achieve results that make a situation better. Too often, behaviors that masquerade as leadership are mistaken for the real thing. Charismatic demagoguery, iron-willed autocracy, and skillful manipulation all qualify as behaviors that can produce results. But they fall far short of the definition of real leadership, because the results may be detrimental or achieved against the will of people who were forced or tricked into producing them. Real leadership isn't practiced by executives who intimidate and threaten or by politicians who play on fears and misrepresent the truth. Nor do the management skills taught by fine business schools sate people's appetite for leadership. Instead, leadership is that intangible asset that gives people the will and the confidence to accomplish good things.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS

Those who are effective at providing real leadership come in all flavors, types, and sizes. The gruff, no-nonsense department head may be just as much a leader as the soft-spoken, beloved rabbi at the local synagogue. The teenager who spearheads a charitable drive in the local high school for a classmate injured in an accident is no less a leader than the mayor who inspires rescuers to persist in the search for people lost in a natural disaster. As different as they are in style, personality, and background, all of these leaders have at least four characteristics in common.

A crucial characteristic of leadership is the ability to credibly articulate a vision of what could be. Author and executive Max DePree says that the only kind of leadership worth following is based on vision. Followers don't expect leaders to know exactly how to reach the vision, but they do expect the leader to have a vision. Indeed, a clear, convincing picture of what is possible helps to encourage and persuade people that there is a light at the end of the tunnel or a new, better way to do something. The front-line supervisor who convinces his staff that the new software system really will make work simpler is articulating a vision of a desirable future state. But effective leaders neither exaggerate the benefits nor downplay the difficulty of achieving the vision; instead, they temper confidence with a sense of reality. While the front-line supervisor communicates his conviction that a new software system will be a huge improvement, he also acknowledges the hard work required to get there. But all the while he expresses unfaltering confidence that the vision is attainable in spite of the difficulties.

Closely related to the ability to articulate a credible vision is the ability to clarify priorities, the second ...