Definition of Leadership and other related information

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Definition of Leadership

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1. Conduct:

To go before or to show the way; to act as a guide; conduct or escort: to lead a group.

2. Influence:

To influence or induce; cause: Subsequent events led him to reconsider his position.

3. Guide: To guide in direction, course, action, opinion, etc.; bring: You can lead her around to your point of view if you are persistent.

4. Oversee:

To command or direct (an army or other large organization): He led the Allied forces during the war.

5. Show the way:

To go first; be in advance: The band will lead and the troops will follow.

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Importance of Leadership

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Leadership is one of the most important things in society. It helps protect nations and organizations from harm. It makes business run more efficiently. It allows goals to be reached. In families, it leads children to become successful and well adjusted as they grow older.

When it is missing, people and groups often lose their way. They slow down, make the wrong decisions, and stop functioning. As things go wrong, there is conflict and turmoil.

Leadership requires decision-making that is timely, complete, and correct. In addition, a leader will impliment strategy and deal with problems and hardship. This person will need to understand people and influence behavior.

Political leaders, we look for someone with strength and personal integrity. Someone who will fairly represent what we believe in and need. In business, we want the leader who will understand the business environment and have wisdom to make good decisions. In the home, families need fathers who will be strong, gentle, and loving. They also, need to be firm and self-sacrificing. The importance of leadership in the home and in society cannot be overstated.

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Synonyms for Leadership

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• guidance, administration, authority, capacity, command, conduction, control, directorship, domination, foresight, influence, initiative, management, power, preeminence, primacy, skill, superintendency, superiority, supremacy, sway
• ability, authorization, charge, coercion, compulsion, expertise, jurisdiction, skill, sovereignty
• go out in front, run things, spearhead, govern, pilot,
• be responsible for, persuade, protect, safeguard, shepherd, watch over, trail-blaze
• show the way, point the way, steer, direct,
• affect, call the shots, cause, command, preside over, supervise, tend,
• accompany, attend, chaperone

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Antonyms for Leadership

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• subordination, impotence, incapacity, inferiority, powerlessness, weakness
• indifference, lethargy, inefficiency, subservience, surrender, weakness, yielding
• absence of influence, inferior, last, subordinate, supplementary, unimportant
• follow, comply, consent, follow, obey
• abandon, desert, leave, withdraw

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Examples of Leadership

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Example 1: Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of Great Britain during the World War II. He encouraged the nation with his courage and confidence. He led the British to fight back against the advancing Germans even when the rest Europe was taken by the Axis powers. He once stated that “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

Example 2: Dwight D. Eisenhower

He had excellent planning, political and military skills. Before he become President, he was the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. His ability to lead and set strategy were essential to winning the war. Diplomacy, dedication, communication ability also helped him as President to build an interstate transportation system.

Example 3: Walt Disney

Walt Disney was a leader who displayed many leadership characteristics. It was important to him to make a positive difference in the lives of employees, family, and those he worked with. His moral convictions were instilled in him by his parents at a young age and were reflected in his work. Walt Disney understood and embraced the process of change. He was willingness to take chances on innovative technologies as they developed in his field.

Example 4: Herb Kelleher

Herb Kelleher is one of the original founders of Southwest Airlines. Kelleher's vision and style are seen as the driving forces for this airline which has consistently posted a profit for 26 consecutive years. The key to Southwest's success is largely thought to be the warmth and determination of its employees who mirror those same qualities in their leader. He also felt that his employees come first and if employees are treated right, they would treat the outside world right, the outside world would become customers.

Example 5: John Wooden

John Wooden was the winner of 10 NCAA basketball championships in 12 years with the UCLA Bruins and was named Coach of the Century by ESPN. The only person to be inducted into basketball's Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. He had a very disciplined, structured approach. He was quoted as saying, "Leadership starts with self-control. Remember, control of your organization begins with control of yourself. When you lose control, you sanction the same behavior for those under your leadership—the team. There is never an excuse for violating this imperative, and when you do, your credibility and consistency as a leader diminish accordingly."

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Stories about Leadership

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A young executive had made some bad decisions that cost the company several million dollars. He was summoned to Watson’s office, fully expecting to be dismissed. As he entered the office, the young executive said, “I suppose after that set of mistakes you will want to fire me.” Watson was said to have replied,

“Not at all, young man, we have just spent a couple of million dollars educating you.”

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"In 1914 Thomas Edison’s factory in West Orange, New Jersey, was virtually destroyed by fire. Although the damage exceeded $2 million, the buildings were insured for only $238,000 because they were made of concrete and were thought to be fireproof. Much of Edison’s life work went up in smoke and flames that December night.

At the height of the fire, Edison’s 24-year-old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind.

“My heart ached for him,” said Charles. “He was 67 — no longer a young man — and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, “Charles, where’s your mother?” When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ‘Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.’”

The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”

Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph."

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Quotes about Leadership

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Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Dwight D. Eisenhower

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him. General Douglas MacArthur

The real leader has no need to lead-- he is content to point the way. Henry Miller

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let him who would be moved to convince others, be first moved to convince himself. Thomas Carlyle

"Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint."

~Lewis H. Lapham~