Have you put leadership into a box?

There are more than 57,000 books on leadership on Amazon.com. Yes, fifty-seven thousand. Why so many? Hasn't anyone finally nailed it, defined it, put it in a tidy box so we can use it? Of course not. There are situations, and personalities, and values that vary, and they call for widely varying leadership behaviors. There is no nailing leadership, defining it, and putting it in a tidy box. To demonstrate, we'll share some ideas on the topic as thought starters for you, as you consider what kind of leader you are now and the one you aspire to be. 

• Leadership is about outcomes - There is a multitude of diverse circumstances calling for a range of behaviors of either command or collaboration, decisiveness or thoughtful analysis. Leadership calls for flexibility, with the goal as the context guiding the choice among behaviors.
• Leadership is about followers - If you're going somewhere and nobody is going with you, you are not leading. When you have them, your followers reveal a lot about who you are and what you are about. The quality of your leadership is revealed by the quality of your followers. The range of your leadership is revealed by the quantity of your followers.
• Leadership and values are two different things - It is possible to acquire followers - thereby meeting the first of the criteria of leadership - and not be a "good" person. Values alignment creates the motivational glue between leader and followers. Someone can look at what's important to your followers and draw conclusions about you.
• You don't have leadership, you DO leadership - Leadership is active, talking, listening, getting one's hands dirty, and so on. You want to lead? Get busy.
• Leaders are ambassadors for a vision - The vision is the really big goal, the big, hairy, audacious outcome that engages the group's imagination. It's what inspires others' initiative to help the vision manifest in the real world. Leaders repeat and reinforce the vision in a variety of ways so people get it and keep it in the forefront of their thinking.
• Leaders produce other leaders -  Leaders add value by multiplying the intelligence of the group. Every individual brings a set of talents and skills to the table, and leaders provide opportunity for each to bring their gifts forward and apply them. This is where the group can become far more than the sum of its parts. It's where initiative and active stewardship on the part of each member of the group multiply its total impact.
• Leaders keep learning - Here's the good news and the bad news, all in one: you are not done until you choose to be done. Leaders learn by intentionally taking information in, and they learn from experiences that might or might not have felt like wins. They perform post mortems on mistakes and failures, internalize the lessons learned, and go at it again, differently. Rinse and repeat until the desired outcome is secured.