Who comes to your mind when we say ‘leader’? Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Martin Luther King, Hitler, Obama? To understand leadership we must understand what it is not!

Why did they cross your mind? Is it because they made a difference? Had an impact? Mostly yes.

From the above two questions we can understand what is leadership.  It is all about creating a ‘lasting impact for the common good’ by channeling the energies of several ‘willing’ followers.

Let us delve into the key words.

Lasting impact for the common good: The purpose of a leader cannot be self-serving; a true leader needs to include the interests of several other stakeholders. Also, the impact cannot be a bubble; it needs to have sustainability attached to it.

Willing followers: A leader must have followers who are willingly behind the leader and not forced into followership. When the followers know that their leader is pursuing their common interests, they willingly follow him/her.

In my experience, it is important to know what is leadership; but it is even more critical to understand what it is NOT – so that we take it up as a responsibility and not a reward! Lets us highlight a few NOTs of leadership.

Leadership is

–  not position and power
–  not about having your say
–  not about getting things done – somehow or the other
–  not about popularity
–  not about publicity or visibility
–  not simply charisma
–  not about the “I” factor