“Leadership is everyone’s business.” Kouzes and Posner
Next week I will celebrate one year since I started The Chairman’s Playbook. In the previous 100 posts (50 Plays and 50 Books), I used the word “leadership” hundreds of times but never defined it. No wonder, as leadership is one of those universal words we all use, admire, and chase — yet rarely define with any real clarity. I believe it’s time to bring some more clarity to the concept.
For some, leadership is about authority. For others, charisma. For many, it is simply about being the person in charge. But after decades of leading organizations through calm waters and storms, I believe that leadership is none of these things alone.
Leadership is not a role, or a title, or a privilege granted by hierarchy.
Leadership is a responsibility, a relationship of trust, and ultimately a choice.
Why Leadership Is So Hard to Define
One challenge in answering “What is leadership?” is that the field itself offers no single answer. Scholars have been trying to define leadership for more than a century, and the closer you look, the more definitions you find.
Joseph Rost, in his seminal work “Leadership for the Twenty-First Century”, identified 221 distinct definitions published between 1900 and 1990. Since then, the number has grown well beyond 350, as new disciplines — psychology, sociology, education, political science, military studies — have added their own understanding of what leaders do and why people follow them.
This diversity is not a weakness of the field; it’s a reminder that leadership is not one thing. It is contextual, social, relational, and value-laden. Different eras, cultures, and organizations need different leaders, and each perspective highlights another facet of the same phenomenon. That is why Ralph Stogdill famously observed that “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are people who have attempted to define it.”
Leadership Begins with Purpose
But beneath the variety of definitions, a deeper truth emerges: every definition centers on a common core — leaders influence others toward a shared purpose. Whether we speak of moral, transformational, servant, adaptive, or strategic leadership, the essential idea remains constant. Leadership is about movement: moving people, ideas, and organizations toward a better future.
Therefore, any serious discussion of leadership must begin not with a definition, but with an appreciation of its complexity. Leadership is an evolving concept, shaped by time, culture, and the needs of the people who expect leaders to guide them. Understanding that complexity is the first step to understanding leadership itself.
Every act of leadership begins with an inner question: “Why am I here?”
Followers sense purpose long before they understand strategy. Purpose creates direction, but it also creates trust. People follow leaders who live and act from a place of clarity — not perfection, but conviction.
Leadership Is Influence, Not Control
Many managers confuse leadership with control. But leadership built on authority is fragile. True leadership is influence grounded in credibility — not coercion.
People follow because they choose to, not because they must.
This difference is the essence of leadership.
Leadership Turns Intentions Into Actions
Leadership is the bridge between aspiration and achievement.
It transforms ideas into motion, strategy into execution, and vision into reality.
Without that transformative capability, intention remains hope, and vision remains fantasy.
Leadership Is Deeply Relational
Leadership does not exist in isolation. It exists only because others need it. A leader is a leader only as long as followers are willing to follow. That makes leadership profoundly relational. To lead is to see people, to listen, to understand their aspirations, fears, and frustrations.
Leadership Is a Group Process
Leadership emerges in the space between the leader and the followers. Neither can exist without the other.
Strong leadership is a collective performance — shared meaning, shared purpose, shared energy.
Leadership Pursues Mutually Desired Goals
Leaders do not impose goals. They clarify, co-create, and mobilize people toward them.
Leadership is ultimately the pursuit of shared success, not the leader’s success alone.
Leadership Is Persuasion and Example
Leadership is earned through persuasion and example.
No one commands people into motivation; inspiration moves them to act.
Consistency, integrity, and visible behavior are more persuasive than any speech.
Leadership Is Empowerment
One of the highest expressions of leadership is the ability to empower others to rise to their potential.
A true leader does not overshadow or dominate. A true leader brings out the best in others.
Empowerment means giving people
• the confidence to try;
• the space to grow;
• the support to excel;
• the trust to take ownership.
Engaged people don’t simply follow — they contribute, initiate, and elevate the entire group.
A leader’s role is not to be the hero of the story, but to create the conditions where others become heroes in their own stories.
Leadership Requires Character
Skills may get you promoted, but character keeps you trusted.
Integrity is the invisible foundation on which all leadership stands.
Leadership Means Taking Responsibility
Leadership is the willingness to accept responsibility even when the circumstances were not your fault. Leaders step forward when others step back.
Leadership Is a Commitment to Growth
The best leaders grow because they know the world will not slow down for them.
Leadership requires humility, curiosity, and the courage to relearn what you think you already know.
So, What Is Leadership?
Leadership is a choice we make every day:
• to forge a group into a shared purpose;
• to influence rather than control;
• to persuade by example rather than by authority;
• to empower others so they can rise and excel;
• to take responsibility rather than seek comfort;
• to turn intentions into actions and visions into reality;
• to pursue mutually desired goals with and through others;
• to hold purpose above ego;
• to grow so that others can grow.
Leadership is not a moment. It is not a position.
It is a lifelong practice — a craft shaped by character, courage, and continuous reflection.
And perhaps leadership is, in the end, something beautifully simple: the willingness to step forward for others when it matters most.
Questions for Reflection
1. What purpose gives direction to your leadership today?
2. How do you influence people without relying on your formal authority?
3. What vision are you currently turning into concrete action?
Download the Chairman’s Playbook Worksheet — Play 51: What is Leadership
📚Further Reading
- James MacGregor Burns — Leadership
A foundational work presenting leadership as a relationship between leaders and followers pursuing shared purposes, and distinguishing transactional from transformational leadership. - Peter F. Drucker — The Effective Executive
A practical classic about converting intentions into results through disciplined priorities, decisions, responsibility, and effective action. - Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman & Chris Fussell — Team of Teams
Demonstrates why leadership in complex organizations increasingly depends on empowering teams, distributing information, building trust, and coordinating collective action. - Ronald A. Heifetz & Marty Linsky — Leadership on the Line
Examines the difficult work of mobilizing people to confront challenges, change established habits, and make progress when solutions are neither obvious nor comfortable. - Robert K. Greenleaf — Servant Leadership
Reverses the traditional hierarchy of leadership: the leader’s responsibility is not merely to direct others but to help them grow, become more capable, and flourish.
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