what is the best definition of leadership essay

What is leadership?

All leaders, to a certain degree, do the same thing. Whether you’re talking about an executive, manager, sports coach, or schoolteacher, leadership is about guiding and impacting outcomes, enabling groups of people to work together to accomplish what they couldn’t do working individually. In this sense, leadership is something you do, not something you are. Some people in formal leadership positions are poor leaders, and many people exercising leadership have no formal authority. It is their actions, not their words, that inspire trust and energy.

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Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, Scott Keller is a senior partner in the Southern California office, and Vik Malhotra and Ramesh Srinivasan are senior partners in the New York office.

What’s more, leadership is not something people are born with—it is a skill you can learn. At the core are mindsets, which are expressed through observable behaviors , which then lead to measurable outcomes. Is a leader communicating effectively or engaging others by being a good listener? Focusing on behaviors lets us be more objective when assessing leadership effectiveness. The key to unlocking shifts in behavior is focusing on mindsets, becoming more conscious about our thoughts and beliefs, and showing up with integrity as our full authentic selves.

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There are many contexts and ways in which leadership is exercised. But, according to McKinsey analysis of academic literature as well as a survey of nearly 200,000 people in 81 organizations all over the world, there are four types of behavior that account for 89 percent of leadership effectiveness :

• being supportive
• operating with a strong results orientation
• seeking different perspectives
• solving problems effectively

Effective leaders know that what works in one situation will not necessarily work every time. Leadership strategies must reflect each organization’s context and stage of evolution. One important lens is organizational health, a holistic set of factors that enable organizations to grow and succeed over time. A situational approach  enables leaders to focus on the behaviors that are most relevant as an organization becomes healthier.

Senior leaders must develop a broad range of skills to guide organizations. Ten timeless topics are important for leading nearly any organization, from attracting and retaining talent  to making culture a competitive advantage. A 2017 McKinsey book, Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths (Bloomsbury, 2017), goes deep on each aspect.

How is leadership evolving?

In the past, leadership was called “management,” with an emphasis on providing technical expertise and direction. The context was the traditional industrial economy command-and-control organization, where leaders focused exclusively on maximizing value for shareholders. In these organizations, leaders had three roles: planners (who develop strategy, then translate that strategy into concrete steps), directors (who assign responsibilities), or controllers (who ensure people do what they’ve been assigned and plans are adhered to).

What are the limits of traditional management styles?

Traditional management was revolutionary in its day and enormously effective in building large-scale global enterprises that have materially improved lives over the past 200 years. However, with the advent of the 21st century, this approach is reaching its limits.

For one thing, this approach doesn’t guarantee happy or loyal managers or workers. Indeed, a large portion of American workers—56 percent— claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic , while 75 percent say dealing with their manager is the most stressful part of their workday.

For 21st-century organizations operating in today’s complex business environment, a fundamentally new and more effective approach to leadership is emerging. Leaders today are beginning to focus on building agile, human-centered, and digitally enabled organizations able to thrive in today’s unprecedented environment and meet the needs of a broader range of stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, in addition to investors).

What is the emerging new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is sometimes described as “ servant leadership .” While there has been some criticism of the nomenclature, the idea itself is simple: rather than being a manager directing and controlling people, a more effective approach is for leaders to be in service of the people they lead. The focus is on how leaders can make the lives of their team members easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Research suggests this mentality can enhance both team performance and satisfaction.

In this new approach, leaders practice empathy, compassion, vulnerability, gratitude, self-awareness, and self-care. They provide appreciation and support, creating psychological safety so their employees are able to collaborate, innovate, and raise issues as appropriate. This includes celebrating achieving the small steps on the way to reaching big goals and enhancing people’s well-being through better human connections. These conditions have been shown to allow for a team’s best performance.

More broadly, developing this new approach to leadership can be expressed as making five key shifts that include, build on, and extend beyond traditional approaches:

• beyond executive to visionary, shaping a clear purpose that resonates with and generates holistic impact for all stakeholders
• beyond planner to architect, reimagining industries and innovating business systems that are able to create new levels of value
• beyond director to catalyst, engaging people to collaborate in open, empowered networks
• beyond controller to coach, enabling the organization to constantly evolve through rapid learning, and enabling colleagues to build new mindsets, knowledge, and skills
• beyond boss to human, showing up as one’s whole, authentic self

Together, these shifts can help a leader expand their repertoire and create a new level of value for an organization’s stakeholders. The last shift is the most important, as it is based on developing a new level of consciousness and awareness of our inner state. Leaders who look inward  and take a journey of genuine self-discovery make profound shifts in themselves and their lives; this means they are better able to benefit their organization. That involves developing “profile awareness” (a combination of a person’s habits of thought, emotions, hopes, and behavior in different circumstances) and “state awareness” (the recognition of what’s driving a person to take action). Combining individual, inward-looking work with outward-facing actions can help create lasting change.

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Leaders must learn to make these five shifts at three levels : transforming and evolving personal mindsets and behaviors; transforming teams to work in new ways; and transforming the broader organization by building new levels of agility, human-centeredness, and value creation into the entire enterprise’s design and culture.

An example from the COVID-19 era offers a useful illustration of this new approach to leadership. In pursuit of a vaccine breakthrough, at the start of the pandemic Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel increased the frequency of executive meetings  from once a month to twice a week. The company implemented a decentralized model enabling teams to work independently and deliver on the bold goal of providing 100 million doses of vaccines in 12 months. “The pace was unprecedented,” Bancel said.

What is the impact of this new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is far more effective. While the dynamics are complex, countless studies show empirical links among effective leadership, employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability.

How can leaders empower employees?

Empowering employees , surprisingly enough, might mean taking a more hands-on leadership approach. Organizations whose leaders successfully empower others through coaching are nearly four times more likely to make swift, good decisions and outperform other companies . But this type of coaching isn’t always natural for those with a more controlling or autocratic style.

Here are five tips to get started  if you’re a leader looking to empower others:

• Provide clear rules, for example, by providing guardrails for what success looks like and communicating who makes which decisions. Clarity and boundary structures like role remits and responsibilities help to contain any anxiety associated with work and help teams stay focused on their primary tasks.
• Establish clear roles, say, by assigning one person the authority to make certain decisions.
• Avoid being a complicit manager—for instance, if you’ve delegated a decision to a team, don’t step in and solve the problem for them.
• Address culture and skills, for instance, by helping employees learn how to have difficult conversations.
• Begin soliciting personal feedback from others, at all levels of your organization, on how you are experienced as a leader.

How can leaders communicate effectively?

Good, clear communication is a leadership hallmark. Fundamental tools of effective communication  include:

• defining and pointing to long-term goals
• listening to and understanding stakeholders
• creating openings for dialogue
• communicating proactively

And in times of uncertainty, these things are important for crisis communicators :

• give people what they need, when they need it
• communicate clearly, simply, and frequently
• choose candor over charisma
• revitalize a spirit of resilience
• distill meaning from chaos
• support people, teams, and organizations to build the capability for self-sufficiency

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice .

Is leadership different in a hybrid workplace?

A leader’s role may look slightly different in remote or hybrid workplace settings . Rather than walking around a physical site, these leaders might instead model what hybrid looks like, or orchestrate work based on tasks, interactions, or purpose. Being communicative and radiating positivity  can go a long way. Leaders need to find other ways to be present and accessible, for example, via virtual drop-in sessions, regular company podcasts, or virtual townhalls. Leaders in these settings may also need to find new ways to get authentic feedback. These tactics can include pulse surveys or learning to ask thoughtful follow-up questions that reveal useful management insights.

Additional considerations, such as making sure that in-person work and togetherness has a purpose, are important. Keeping an eye on inclusivity in hybrid work  is also crucial. Listening to what employees want, with an eye to their lived experience, will be vital to leaders in these settings. And a focus on output, outcomes, results, and impact—rather than arbitrary norms about time spent in offices— may be a necessary adaptation in the hybrid era .

How should CEOs lead in this new world?

Just as for leadership more broadly, today’s environment requires CEOs to lead very differently. Recent research indicates that one-third to one-half of new CEOs fail within 18 months.

What helps top performers thrive today? To find out, McKinsey led a research effort to identify the CEOs who achieved breakaway success. We examined 20 years’ worth of data on 7,800 CEOs—from 3,500 public companies across 70 countries and 24 industries. The result is the McKinsey book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner, March 2022). Watch an interview with the authors for more on what separates the best CEOs from the rest .

Getting perspective on leadership from CEOs themselves is enlightening—and illustrates the nuanced ways in which the new approach to leadership described above can be implemented in practice. Here are a few quotes drawn from McKinsey’s interviews with these top-level leaders :

• “I think the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and to help others accept the discomfort of disruptions to the status quo.” — Indra Nooyi , former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
• “The single most important thing I have to do as CEO is ensure that our brand continues to be relevant.” — Chris Kempczinski , CEO of McDonald’s
• “Leaders of other enterprises often define themselves as captains of the ship, but I think I’m more the ship’s architect or designer. That’s different from a captain’s role, in which the route is often fixed and the destination defined.” — Zhang Ruimin , CEO of Haier
• “I think my leadership style [can be called] ‘collaborative command.’ You bring different opinions into the room, you allow for a really great debate, but you understand that, at the end of the day, a decision has to be made quickly.” — Adena Friedman , CEO of Nasdaq
• “We need an urgent refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity. To find new ways for all of us to lead so that we can create a better future, a more sustainable future.” — Hubert Joly , former chairman and CEO of Best Buy

What is leadership development?

Leaders aren’t born; they learn to lead over time. Neuroplasticity refers to the power of the brain to form new pathways and connections through exposure to novel, unfamiliar experiences. This allows adults to adapt, grow, and learn new practices throughout our lifetimes.

When it comes to leadership within organizations, this is often referred to as leadership development. Programs, books, and courses on leadership development abound, but results vary.

Leadership development efforts fail for a variety of reasons. Some overlook context; in those cases, asking a simple question (something like “What, precisely, is this program for?”) can help. Others separate reflections on leadership from real work, or they shortchange the role of adjusting leaders’ mindsets, feelings, assumptions, and beliefs, or they fail to measure results.

So what’s needed for successful leadership development? Generally, developing leaders is about creating contexts where there is sufficient psychological safety in combination with enough novelty and unfamiliarity to cultivate new leadership practices in response to stimuli. Leadership programs that successfully cultivate leaders are also built around “placescapes”—these are novel experiences, like exploring wilderness trails, practicing performing arts, or writing poetry.

When crafting a leadership development program, there are six ingredients to incorporate  that lead to true organizational impact:

• Set up for success:
• Focus your leadership transformation on driving strategic objectives and initiatives.
• Commit the people and resources needed.
• Be clear about focus:
• Engage a critical mass of leaders to reach a tipping point for sustained impact.
• Zero in on the leadership shifts that drive the greatest value.
• Execute well:
• Architect experiential journeys to maximize shifts in mindsets, capabilities, and practices.
• Measure for holistic impact.

A well-designed and executed leadership development program can help organizations build leaders’ capabilities broadly, at scale. And these programs can be built around coaching, mentoring, and having people try to solve challenging problems—learning skills by applying them in real time to real work.

What are mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship?

Mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship can also be part of leadership development efforts. What are they? Mentorship refers to trusted counselors offering guidance and support on various professional issues, such as career progression. Sponsorship is used to describe senior leaders who create opportunities to help junior colleagues succeed. These roles are typically held by more senior colleagues, whereas apprenticeship could be more distributed. Apprenticeship  describes the way any colleague with domain expertise might teach others, model behaviors, or transfer skills. These approaches can be useful not only for developing leaders but also for helping your company upskill or reskill employees quickly and at scale.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on People & Organizational Performance . Learn more about McKinsey’s Leadership & Management  work—and check out job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Author Talks: What separates the best CEOs from the rest? ,” December 15, 2021, Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , and Vik Malhotra
• “ From the great attrition to the great adaptation ,” November 3, 2021, Aaron De Smet  and Bill Schaninger
• “ The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships ,” September 22, 2020, Tera Allas  and Bill Schaninger
• " Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st century organizations ," October 1, 2018, Aaron De Smet , Michael Lurie, and Andrew St. George
• " Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths ," 2017, Scott Keller  and Mary Meaney
• “ Leadership in context ,” January 1, 2016, Michael Bazigos, Chris Gagnon, and Bill Schaninger
• “ Decoding leadership: What really matters ,” January 1, 2015, Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

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What is leadership: Moving beyond the C-Suite

CEO Excellence

• Published May 15, 2024
• 20 Minute Read

What Is Leadership?

The Definition of Leadership: It’s a Social Process

Leadership is often described by what a leader does or the capabilities they have. Yet while the skills and behaviors of individual leaders are important, the true meaning of leadership is about what people do together . Said another way, everyone in an organization contributes to leadership.

So, what is leadership, really?

Based on our decades of pioneering research and experience, we define leadership as a social process that enables individuals to work together to achieve results that they could never achieve working alone.

Understanding how leadership works as a social process is important for several reasons:

• This definition of leadership avoids putting the entire weight of leadership on a few individuals — or limiting the leadership potential of others. Each person can discover and build upon their own leadership potential.
• This view of leadership is both realistic and adaptive — because the truth is, leadership doesn’t take place in isolation. It reflects, responds to, and shapes many different relationships, cultures, and systems.
• It’s also practical. When we define leadership as something that happens through the interactions among people with shared work, we have many opportunities to amplify leadership potential. Plus, in a group, a multitude of skills, perspectives, and expertise work together, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Any individual weaknesses are overshadowed by the strengths of others, and the team or group thrives — accomplishing more together than any one individual could ever do alone.

Management vs. Leadership: What’s the Difference?

The terms management and leadership are often used interchangeably, but there are distinct differences, so understanding the definition of leadership vs. management can be helpful. The key difference between them:

• Management is the process of planning and control, while
• Leadership is the process of people working to achieve something together.

Both management and leadership are important for accomplishing goals or making change happen, and depending on your role, you will need to draw on aspects of both to be effective.

What Do Managers Focus On?

Management roles and responsibilities involve planning, organizing, getting things done, and solving problems. Effective managers deploy resources and work through others to gain efficiency, quality, and accomplish goals. The focus is on day-to-day operations and tasks, and ensuring employees meet expectations for what they do and how they do it. A good manager delegates tasks effectively; ensures the team meets any deadlines and targets; manages resources; and addresses conflicts efficiently.

What Do Leaders Focus On?

Leadership roles and responsibilities are broader, and involve influencing, inspiring, and bringing out the best in others. Leaders see the big picture, help others connect the dots, and fill in gaps. Effective leaders motivate and influence teams to work towards achieving a common goal, and invest in the whole — the collective people and systems needed to succeed. They set a clear vision, encourage innovation, and support personal and professional growth in others.

Whether you’re currently leading people and projects, a team or department, or an entire organization, your role will involve aspects of both leadership and management, as both are important. And when facing a new challenge, goal, or situation, remember the definition of leadership as a collective process, and consider what’s most needed in the moment: leadership vs. management.

With that clarity, you can learn or apply the skills, behaviors, and capabilities most likely to solve a problem or support the desired shared outcome — and guide others to play their part, too.

Defining Leadership By Its Outcomes — Direction, Alignment, and Commitment

At CCL, our research distills leadership down to 3 essential elements: direction, alignment, and commitment, or DAC, in our widely-recognized DAC model for leadership .

This leadership definition moves beyond a focus on leaders, followers, and shared goals, and instead puts the emphasis on the shared outcomes of leadership. If all 3 elements – direction, alignment, and commitment — are present, then we know that leadership is happening.

The actions, interactions, reactions, and exchanges of multiple people produce DAC together. And while organizational leaders play a vital role in setting the tone and making space for DAC to thrive, everyone is involved in creating DAC.

When you understand how essential direction, alignment, and commitment are for what leadership is, you can see why we define leadership as a social process — not a solo effort.

Our definition of leadership puts focus on what effective leadership does . It recognizes that everyone can learn, grow, and contribute to shared direction, alignment, and commitment. And it creates space for many different leadership styles, individual personalities, and cultures.

But what exactly do we mean when we say that leadership is the result of DAC?

Agreement Within the Group on Overall Goals

Direction is a shared answer to the question, where are we going? It’s an agreement on what a team or organization wants to achieve together and serves as a guide for setting shared goals.

With a collective sense of clear direction, everyone’s time and energy go where they matter most. People know what to say yes and no to, and where to spend resources. They can see how their individual efforts fit into larger objectives.

Setting direction is an essential part of what leadership is, because it requires much more than just announcing a business target or even articulating a vision; it’s about purpose-driven leadership that creates clarity and inspires and motivates others.

Coordinated Work Within the Group

While direction is where we’re going, alignment is how we get there.

With alignment, each person understands their role and how it fits with the work of their colleagues. Overall, there’s a sense of coordination and synchronization. Confusion and miscommunication are reduced. Efficiencies are created, resulting in fewer redundant tasks, duplication of efforts, and multiple checks and cross-checks.

Creating and maintaining alignment can be especially challenging today among remote or hybrid teams, with members in different locations and time zones. It can be frustrating to try to collaborate with others because teammates are in a different place and time of day — leaving people feeling left out, unable to contribute, and confused about their role and what’s going on.

Effective leadership always requires a focus on both relationships and tasks, but that’s particularly true when leading in a hybrid work environment or with remote team members. Intentionally building trust and fostering coordination and interdependence can ultimately create greater alignment.

A Feeling of Mutual Responsibility for the Group

Commitment is a willingness to make the success of the collective a personal priority, where individuals know that their own successes are connected to those of others. People can trust that everyone will make the effort needed to ensure the group is successful, with a balance of give and take.

When a culture of resistance or minimal effort is replaced by a sense of “being in it together,” managers don’t need to monitor activities so closely, or follow up many times on the same item. Team members are willing to give a little extra to ensure their group’s success, versus just doing enough to get by. With an increased sense of accountability and a shared ownership mentality , change is supported, shared goals are achieved, and cultural transformation is possible.

But commitment cannot be enforced; it must be fostered. The most effective managers understand that leadership means respecting differences, and seek to understand the experiences of their employees and build belonging at work , creating spaces where people feel their perspectives and contributions are valued.

How a Better Definition of Leadership Can Improve It

A shared view of the importance and meaning of leadership can actually help to improve the quality and consistency of it. With clarity on what leadership means, you can assess what’s going well and what isn’t — and take steps to improve how you work with others and accomplish what matters most.

So now that you know what leadership is and how to recognize when it’s happening, what can you do to improve it?

Fuel the Social Process of Leadership: Start by Diagnosing Leadership Challenges

If progress is stagnant in your organization or team, or in a community effort, think about leadership as an outcome that you want to achieve through direction, alignment, and commitment. This can quickly help you diagnose where you need to focus your attention to regain momentum. Some specific steps to follow are outlined below.

1. Watch for signs that DAC is weak.

How can you diagnose unclear direction, lack of alignment, or low commitment? Here are a few key signs:

• A lack of agreement on priorities or resource allocation
• People feel as if they are being pulled in different directions
• People are stuck, the same things are repeatedly problems or frustrations
• Team members are unclear about how their tasks fit into the larger work of the group
• Deadlines are missed, rework and duplication of effort are common
• Groups or functions compete against each other
• Only the easy things get done, there’s a persistent gap between effort needed and effort given
• People put their own interests first, a sense of “what’s in it for me?” dominates
• Inconsistencies between what people say and what they do

2. Bring in multiple viewpoints.

Go beyond your own perspective to engage your team and learn how others view the current levels of DAC. Hold a candid conversation about the outcomes of leadership in your group, team, or organization to get a more accurate picture of what’s going on and understand the current issues and challenges. Be intentional about first creating psychological safety so that group members feel free to share openly what they think is going well and what’s not.

• Try to gauge whether others agree on what you’re trying to accomplish together. Ask if everybody is clear about how their task fits into the work of the group. Do they think their contributions are valued?
• Have colleagues, partners, or direct reports take our quick and complimentary DAC assessment . Hold one-on-one meetings and focused conversations to share perspectives on what is going well, and where improvement would make a meaningful difference.
• Sometimes, getting everyone’s mind out of the present and into the future is helpful. For instance, if the team was performing better 6 months from now, what would start happening? What would stop?

Based on what you learn, you can identify needed changes.

3. Take simple actions to address issues that emerge.

Every team, project, and situation will involve different leadership challenges, so how you address issues will require different skills, actions, and behaviors.

For example, you may realize that your group has clear direction and strong commitment, but the processes and the systems and the way the organization is set up is chaotic. That means that Alignment is the area that needs the most work, and so the collective effort should focus on improving how work is accomplished. In other situations, it might be low levels of shared Commitment and/or Direction that are the biggest pain points to address.

While there are no quick fixes or single solutions, you can make progress on improving DAC levels with small changes such as these:

• Expand your network. Involve a more diverse group of people as you plan or make decisions, communicate more broadly, and build in connection points with people, groups, or functions whose work or interests are related to yours. Taking a network perspective enables leaders to get more tasks accomplished through influence and the power of their relationships.
• Go beyond surface-level relationships. Try to understand what really motivates your team members, what information each person needs to make sense of the goal, and encourage leadership purpose to help each individual connect the larger objectives to their own work.
• Improve interactions within the group. You might change the frequency or format of meetings or updates, streamline a key process, or consider establishing team norms or setting up a team charter to turn the team’s values into agreed-upon behaviors and operating agreements, if those weren’t in place already.
• Hold candid conversations. Give greater effort to building trust, rapport, and a deeper understanding of the group’s perspectives. Ask for feedback, ideas, and concerns. Hold open discussions about changes that are needed and why, and use active listening skills to learn others’ views.
• Help your team manage priorities and competing demands. Consider more frequent check-ins, clearer accountability structures, and focus on helping to address or remove roadblocks for others, which will help the team make progress and also demonstrates compassionate leadership .

Investing in Leadership at All Levels

When everybody at an organization understands what leadership is and how to support DAC as part of their role, more leadership happens. The results of more leadership include:

• Increased agreement on group and organizational priorities;
• Clarity on how individual tasks fit into the work of the larger team; and
• Individuals who prioritize the success of the collective.

Implications of This Relational Definition of Leadership

This more relational understanding of the meaning of leadership has important implications for leadership development. As our research has noted, it underscores the importance of not focusing on development solely for individuals in positions of authority or who have been deemed “high-potential,” but rather, the importance of building leadership capacity for the collective — teams, workgroups, and organizations.

But effective leadership across all levels doesn’t come automatically; knowing how to contribute to the leadership outcomes of direction, alignment, and commitment must be learned and practiced. This requires an intentional investment in growing leadership at all levels.

We can begin by honoring the unique starting point of individual leaders, helping them grow their self-awareness and leadership skillsets and mindsets. We can also work to foster an increased understanding of the meaning of leadership within teams and groups — ultimately creating a profound ripple effect across entire organizations and communities.

Amplifying Leadership Potential With Development

Providing the right learning at the right time for all talent — from individual contributors to frontline managers, and from team and cross-functional leaders through senior executives — is the key that unlocks organizational performance, engagement, and retention. Some key steps to amplify leadership potential across your organization:

1. Encourage good leadership and make development accessible.

The most effective leaders consistently show the characteristics of a good leader such as integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, compassion, and resilience. When individuals learn and improve these essential leadership qualities, and more, the social process of leadership becomes smoother and more effective.

But just knowing what good leadership looks like isn’t enough. In our decades of research and hands-on experience, we’ve found that people are more committed and engaged when they have a clear career path, ample professional and personal leadership development opportunities, and the support they need to become the best possible version of themselves. Leadership development prepares individuals to navigate change and builds collective capacity to solve pressing problems.

Unfortunately, access to opportunities for growth and development isn’t always available. Our  research on emerging leaders  found that 60% of young professionals worldwide feel that access to opportunities for leadership development is inequitable.

Fully supporting emerging leaders can include actions such as working against systemic exclusion from the past and providing more equitable access to opportunities in the present. A variety of leadership programs, courses, and tools can fit together like puzzle pieces to tailor your organization’s large-scale training and retention initiatives and make leadership development more accessible to all.

2. Grow teams together.

When building high-performing teams , remember to focus on more than just star power. Of course, having the right people with the right leadership capabilities is important, and each person should know why they’re on the team. That’s key. But that’s just one of the 4 components of team effectiveness, and the only one that considers individual people, or the level of talent and ability within a team. As the other 3 aspects of our research framework on team effectiveness emphasize, an effective team supports direction, alignment, and commitment, reflecting that what leadership is about, really, is people working together to produce collective results.

And instead of only having individuals move through leadership development independently, picture the power of teams growing together . By establishing strong direction, alignment, and commitment, team members will all work together more seamlessly, improve outputs, and expand potential for impact.

3. Scale for organization-wide impact.

Imagine the impact that would result in your organization if there was a shared understanding of the definition of leadership, and a leadership vision, language, and behaviors were all linked to critical business needs. What if direction, alignment, and commitment were strong and vibrant, rather than an unfamiliar way to define leadership?

By implementing and scaling leadership development enterprise-wide, organizations broaden access to learning, provide equitable access to opportunities for growth and development , create new capabilities across the enterprise, and foster the social processes needed for effective leadership. In fact, organizational investments in leadership development have been repeatedly shown to:

• Improve bottom-line financial performance.  Superior human capital management is an extremely powerful predictor of an organization’s ability to outperform its competition.
• Attract and retain talent, strengthening the leadership pipeline.  As a result, employee retention is 20 times greater at companies with a focus on leadership development.
• Drive strategy execution and facilitate organizational alignment.  Done right, leadership development unquestionably delivers impact and fosters alignment.
• Increase organizational agility and change readiness.  When facing an unpredictable business environment, 86% of companies with strategic leadership development programs are able to respond rapidly, compared with 52% of companies with less mature leadership programs.

While it can be a challenge to deliver high-impact development opportunities at all leader levels and to large populations, organizations can still enjoy the many benefits of leadership development by supplementing their own in-house training resources and teams with content and support from outside experts and proven leadership development providers.

4. Create a ripple effect in society.

As individuals, teams, and organizations come to understand the meaning of leadership and how to create greater direction, alignment, and commitment, their leadership potential is expanded, and the impact can ripple outward — making a difference not only in their lives, but also in the lives they touch.

That’s why we say that systemic societal or community problems cannot be solved by individuals alone. Given their size and complexity, confronting so-called “wicked problems” takes many people working together to uncover the roots of the issues and find sustainable solutions.

This reality truly underscores that when we embrace a more relational and collective definition of leadership, we open up the possibility of transformational change for everyone — from individuals and teams to entire organizations, and even larger communities and society.

What Does Leadership Mean to You?

Now that you know the research-based definition of leadership involves the outcomes of direction, alignment, and commitment, and that DAC enables people to achieve more together than they ever could working alone, you can decide what effective leadership means to you and the mission and goals of your organization, group, or community.

When you see areas of strength and what’s holding you back, you can take targeted and intentional action to develop your capacity to lead — and help others do the same. The result? More people reaching their potential, making faster progress, and finding better solutions — together.

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Frequently Asked Questions About the Meaning of Leadership

• What truly defines leadership? Our research has defined leadership as a social process that enables people to work together to achieve results they could never achieve working alone. Leadership is less about one strong, charismatic, or extraordinary individual, and more about a group of people and the ways they interact together. This definition of leadership puts the emphasis on the outcomes that leadership creates — a shared sense of direction, alignment, and commitment within a group or team.
• What are the functions of leadership? The function of leadership is to create direction + alignment + commitment (DAC) within a group of people. The group needs agreement about its direction and what they are trying to accomplish together; they must have alignment for effective coordination of the work; and members with commitment feel a mutual responsibility for the group. If these 3 outcomes are strong, then we know leadership is present.
• What is leadership NOT? Many definitions of leadership put the focus on the skills or behaviors of individual leaders and the response of followers. But leadership is not about positional power, having a title, being in charge, or merely having followers. Leadership is also different from management, although both are important. And it’s not even about the characteristics, capabilities, or skills of just one person. Rather, leadership is a social process among everyone in an organization, and the outcomes of leadership are direction, alignment, and commitment.
• What are the differences between leadership and management? Though the terms are often used interchangeably, there are distinct differences. As you examine how your organization is functioning, keep this in mind: management is the process of planning and control, while leadership is the process of people working to achieve something together. In many roles and organizations, it’s important to effectively combine leadership and management skills.
• What is leadership development? Leadership development is the intentional effort to expand, strengthen, or foster leadership. Effective leadership starts with self-awareness, and no 2 leaders are the same. That’s why at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), we take an highly individualized approach to leadership development, honoring each person’s unique starting point as we foster self-understanding and growth. We go beyond skill development to and facilitate new and deeper ways of thinking, with evidence-based methods and hands-on leadership programs and solutions tailored to address the challenges faced and competencies needed most at each level of the organization and stage in a career journey.
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With over 30 years of experience at CCL, Cindy has contributed to many aspects of CCL’s work: research, publication, product development, program evaluation, coaching, and management. She designs and manages R&D projects, coaches action learning teams, writes for multiple audiences, and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences.

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This introduction to our leadership philosophy explains how direction, alignment, and commitment (the elements of our DAC framework) are key in how leadership works, connecting exponential potential with collective progress.

Our society is usually quick to identify a bad leader, but how do you identify a good one? We’ve found that great leaders consistently possess these 12 core leadership traits.

Leadership development at scale creates competitive advantage for organizations. Download our paper to learn what research has found are the direct and indirect benefits of leadership development.

Our research explored how much organizations invest in leadership development. Learn 5 factors HR executives say are part of a successful and effective leadership development strategy.

Organizations that prioritize soft skill development create stronger cultures. Learn the specific people skills our research has found are needed at each leader level, and how to develop them.

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Equip your leaders, teams, and entire organization for the future with our trusted leadership services and leadership development solutions.

Leadership requires building direction, alignment, and commitment (DAC). Train your team on our DAC framework for more effective leadership.

At the Center for Creative Leadership, our drive to create a ripple effect of positive change underpins everything we do. For 50+ years, we've pioneered leadership development solutions for everyone from frontline workers to global CEOs. Consistently ranked among the world's top providers of executive education, our research-based programs and solutions inspire individuals in organizations across the world — including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — to ignite remarkable transformations.

Feb 15, 2023

Essays on Leadership for Students | 200 - 500 Word Essays

Are you writing an essay about leadership? Check out these examples!

Leadership is often defined as "the action of inspiring others to act in concert to achieve a particular goal." It signifies the harmony in actions that lead to a common objective. A genuine leader not only exudes confidence but also paves the way for their followers towards triumph. Over the years, various leadership styles have been identified and discussed by psychologists.

 Qualities such as intelligence, adaptability, extroversion, innate self-awareness, and social competence often emerge as the hallmarks of impactful leaders. There's a consensus that these traits mold an individual into an effective leader. Interestingly, some theories suggest that extraordinary situations can thrust an ordinary individual into the spotlight, bestowing upon them the mantle of leadership. It's also believed that leadership isn't a static trait but an evolving journey. It underscores the belief that with dedication and the right resources, anyone can hone their leadership abilities.

 True leadership goes beyond merely advocating for a cause. It involves taking responsibility, igniting motivation in others, and differentiating oneself from just being a 'boss'. A leader's essence lies in their ability to inspire and propel people towards grand visions, whereas a manager typically focuses on oversight and operational aspects.

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay falls under the category of student application essays and serves to provide student admissions officers with insight into your past leadership experiences. Despite appearing to be very specific, this type of essay acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can vary significantly depending on the individual and the context.

 If you find yourself in need of further insights or a unique angle for your leadership essay, consider exploring an expert essay-writing tool designed to assist students in crafting compelling narratives by analyzing vast data and generating fresh ideas within minutes. In this article, we'll also delve into various leadership essay examples to offer a clearer understanding of the genre and inspire your writing journey.

4 Examples of Leadership Essays

Qualities of a good leader, introduction.

Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance. It's imperative for a leader to have faith in his own judgment and actions. How can people want to follow him if he doesn't even know what he's doing?

Every effective leader knows that they need to be an inspiration to their followers. A leader needs to set an example for his team. In addition, he ought to inspire them whenever feasible. A leader must also maintain optimism in trying times.

What qualities a good leader must have?

Leadership is the ability to influence and guide individuals or groups toward a common goal. A leader must possess several qualities to be effective, including:

Communication skills: A leader must be able to communicate their vision and goals clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. This requires excellent listening skills, empathy, and the ability to adapt to different communication styles.

Emotional intelligence: A leader must be able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This includes being able to understand and respond to the emotions of others, and handling conflicts in a constructive manner.

Visionary: A leader must have a clear and inspiring vision of the future, and be able to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to work towards it.

Strategic thinking: A leader must be able to think critically and creatively to identify and solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans and strategies to achieve their goals.

Flexibility: A leader must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be open to new ideas and perspectives. This requires the ability to embrace change, be innovative, and continuously learn and grow.

Integrity: A leader must have strong ethics and values, and be willing to make difficult decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. This requires honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Decisiveness: A leader must be able to make tough decisions quickly, without undue hesitation or procrastination. This requires courage and the ability to take calculated risks.

Empowerment: A leader must be able to delegate responsibilities, give team members the resources they need to succeed, and foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their team.

Conclusion 

These qualities are essential for effective leadership, and when combined with hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, can help leaders to achieve great things.

How one can be a Great Leader?

Leadership is the act of performing the duties of a leader. In the business world, for instance, it is essential to have someone in charge of a team to ensure everything runs well. Effective leadership is essential for any group that wants to maximize its prospects of success.

Leadership Comes from Experience

As we've shown, leadership can be innate in some cases but is more often learned through practice and exposure. Sometimes the best traits of a leader must be learned over a lengthy period of time, so that one can become a notable one, proving that leadership is not always about a person's innate qualities. Leaders should continuously be on the lookout for opportunities to grow their leadership skills.

Nobody can disagree that experience is a key component of leadership. Numerous examples exist to back up this claim, such as:

Instance 1:

Our school's head boy or girl has traditionally been an older student who has been around for a while and thus has a better grasp of the ins and outs of school politics.

Instance 2:

When there is a vacancy for a team leader, it is common practice for the employee who has consistently put in the most effort and attention to the office job to receive a higher number of votes than their coworkers. 

“The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.” - John C. Maxwell

How one can be a Great Leader/Skills to be a Great Leader?

Effective leadership is a skill that develops through time. Developing into a leader with all the qualities that are needed takes a lot of hard work and potential. Being a prominent leader calls for a wide variety of traits. Some of these characteristics are addressed in further detail below:

One should be a Good Communicator

To be an effective leader, one must be able to convey his thoughts clearly to his/her/its subordinates.

Should have Confidence

The individual should have faith in what he says and does.

Give Credit to other Team Members too

A leader not only needs to impose his viewpoints and opinions instead he must also hear to the suggestions of other members of the team and offer them credit if their concept is appropriate.

Good Bond with the Team

A leader's ability to command respect from his team members depends on his ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with them.

Leads with Responsibility

A leader needs to be completely committed to his position. It's important that he takes on responsibility so that he can effectively deal with the various challenges he will inevitably face.

Any group or organization needs a leader above all else. Leadership development takes time and effort. One needs to have lived through a lot to be an effective leader. It's not enough to simply have years of experience in the field; one must also have the traits that make one an effective leader. You can't be a great leader unless you possess certain traits.

What makes a Good Leader?

Trying one's hand as a leader appears easy when viewed through this lens. Is that so tough? Of course not; leading is difficult, and not everyone aspires to be a leader. The vast majority of us have settled into well-established careers where we report to superiors and make a living. Still, not everyone is content to go along with the crowd. They become leaders in whatever field they pursue. A leader is an example to followers and will prioritize the needs of those around them.

Some Unique Qualities of a Leader

Many individuals resort to their leaders to vent their frustrations, therefore it's important for them to be good listeners.

A leader ought to be completely forthright; they can't play favorites or give anyone preferential treatment. One of the most essential qualities of a strong leader is the ability to make decisions with integrity.

They need to be aware of the bigger picture and understand what makes an individual stand out or become a leader. It's their expertise in addition to other distinguishing traits. Their awareness of current events and the results of recent studies is essential. In many ways, this is helpful, and it's the leader's responsibility to stay current.

Since some might not understand them, they should utilize straightforward, easily comprehended language. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively at all times. In reality, what sets them apart is their exceptional communication skills. Adolf Hitler was such a gifted orator that his followers believed every word he said.

No matter how you're feeling or what's going on in the world, if you listen to a leader, they may make you feel energized. Since leaders are in charge of inspiring confidence in their followers, they can't afford to be wary or unsure of themselves. People tend to blindly follow their leaders.

Whether you're a leader or a doctor, you should devote yourself completely to your chosen field. Everything we do is for the benefit of others; engineers, for example, spend much of their time designing and constructing buildings for other people. So, take pride in what you do, and if you possess the aforementioned traits, you are also a leader who doesn't have to rely on others to succeed. No matter what you do, aspiring to leadership positions will always benefit others.

What is Leadership in Management and what are the weaknesses and strengths of a Leader?

Simply said, leadership is acting as a supervisor or manager of a group. Different mental pictures pop up when we hear the word "leadership" used in conversation. One might think of a political leader, team leader, corporate leader, school leader, etc. Leaders facilitate order and efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork and success are fundamental to effective leadership. Leaders utilize their managerial abilities to establish courses and guide their teams to success.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership

Able to express oneself more clearly

Growth of character.

Self-awareness.

Possession of teamwork skills.

Gain assurance in yourself.

Weaknesses:

Acting favorably toward one's teammates.

Having no faith in the leader.

Thinks they're better than everyone else, but act hypocritically.

Not living up to the promised standard.

Insufficient morals.

Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are inextricably linked to one another. Leadership and management are both vital to the efficient operation of an organization; but, they accomplish very different things in the process. Leadership is a necessary skill for anyone aspiring to be an effective manager. The terms management and leadership are synonymous with one another. In this manner, we are able to draw the conclusion that a manager who demonstrates the traits of a successful leader is, in fact, a manager who is effective.

Leadership in School

Leadership is essential in nearly every group, as we've seen above. That group includes one's educational institution. Every school needs an outstanding figure to serve as its head of school. Class monitor, assembly captain, cultural leader, etc. are all examples of leadership roles that can be taken on at school, but this raises the question of what makes a person a successful school leader.

Any student hoping to be chosen as a student body leader will need to demonstrate a wide range of competencies. He or she needs to be a consistent student who pays attention in class and does well in extracurricular activities. For the simple reason that no intelligent and hardworking kid would ever be considered for leadership. Student leaders are most often selected from among those who participate fully in all activities.

Leadership in Organization

Leadership in an organization, also known as organizational leadership, is the process of establishing long-term objectives that further the company's mission and help it reach its ultimate destination. This is a classic illustration of how Bill Gates often works with his team: they agree on a strategy, and Gates implements it. To the same extent, it is the responsibility of the leader in each given organization to determine what it is that the group is trying to accomplish.

Leadership in Politics

Leadership in politics, also known as political leadership, is the process of becoming actively involved in a political party in the role of a party leader. Knowledge of political processes, their outcomes, and the political agenda is central to the idea of political leadership.

An effective leader can be developed in anyone who has the determination and drives to do so. Both the strengths and the areas for improvement should be nurtured. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or the political arena, leadership is always necessary. Therefore, one can exercise leadership anywhere they like inside their own organization.

What are the types of Leadership?

The ability to lead is a rare trait that not everyone possesses. The ability to do so is a gift, so count your blessings if you possess it. It's recommended that you hone it even more so that you can propel your career forward and serve as an example to people around you. However, it is crucial to grasp the various leadership styles before you go ahead and polish your skills.

Types of Leadership Styles

Democratic Leadership

In this style of management, subordinates are given a voice in decision-making. Although the subordinates' efforts are highlighted, the leader is ultimately held responsible for the group's actions. Many people find this type of leadership to be effective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others to adopt new behaviors and ways of thinking in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams and organizations. A transformational leader is someone who encourages their team to strive for greater things and works to boost morale and output.

Team Leadership

A good leader fully incorporates his team into the task at hand. Members of the team are motivated to reach their goals and advance in their careers thanks to the leadership of the group.

Strategic Leadership

It requires a chief executive who doesn't restrict himself to brainstorming sessions with his superiors. He contributes on every level of the team. He is well-liked for his ability to unite the need for fresh ideas with the necessity of grounding them in reality.

Autocratic Leadership

The leader in a command and control structure is the center of attention. The chief executive has absolute power in this setting. He decides things on his own, without polling his staff. He relays this information to his staff and stresses the importance of swift action. The buck stops with him, and he alone must answer for his actions. Not much room for negotiation exists. It's no secret that this method of leading has its detractors.

Visionary Leadership

This kind of leader appreciates the abilities and requirements of his team members. He describes his ideal outcome and the teamwork that will be necessary to attain it.

Coaching Leadership

Leaders who coach their teams do so regularly in an effort to raise output. He inspires his employees to do better and works to keep them motivated. This approach to leadership has been much praised.

Facilitative Leadership

With occasional guidance, a facilitative leader ensures that the process runs smoothly for his team. As a precaution in case his team is ineffective. If the team is highly effective, the leader will take a hands-off approach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The leadership of this type is necessary when interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds. Because of the wide variety of cultures represented in the workforce across the United States, many managers and executives hold cross-cultural positions.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

The members of the team are given responsibility in this style of management. They are free to choose how they spend their time at work, with minimal oversight from the boss. It's not a good way to lead, according to experts.

Transactional Leadership

An interactive approach is integral to this kind of leadership. When team members successfully implement their leader's ideas and choices, they are rewarded with immediate, material benefits.

Charismatic Leadership

In order to bring out the best in his followers, this kind of leader makes the effort to change their attitudes, values, and actions.

This article should dispel the notion that leadership qualities can't be further subdivided. It should also assist you in pinpointing your own personal brand of leadership so you can perfect it over time.

Final Words

In conclusion, leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves various qualities and skills. Effective leaders possess traits such as integrity, vision, empathy, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire and motivate others. They are able to navigate challenges, make difficult decisions, and lead their team toward success. Leadership also involves continuous learning and self-improvement, as leaders must adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant. Effective leadership can have a positive impact on both individuals and organizations, fostering growth and creating a culture of success.

You can use Jenni.ai to quickly compose an essay on leadership, or any other topic, of your choosing. It's a fantastic choice that promises convenience and relief. Create an essay on any topic in a matter of minutes with the help of our AI-powered program. Membership is immediately available upon your free registration here.

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A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Attempting a leadership essay isn’t such a daunting task, provided you have a grasp of the necessary information needed for a leadership paper. To write this special essay, you’ll need to redefine what exactly an essay on leadership is, how to choose the perfect topic, what should be in the content, and how to organize and structure the paper. Let’s delve deeper!

What Is A Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a well-formatted, organized and specialized type of formal writing which elaborates on a generic leadership topic or a superior human figure exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals.

What Makes A Good Leader Essay?

There are some peculiarities needed to infuse in your write-up if, for example, you’re trying to learn how to write a leadership essay about yourself.

Also, if you’re just trying to produce leadership essays for college, then you’d first and foremost, learn  how to structure an essay , among other skills needed for this type of essay. Here are some qualities which can be found in a good essay about leadership.

• Choose a creative topic
• Avoid the passive voice (the active voice sounds stronger)
• Search for and study leadership essay examples
• Follow the appropriate essay style
• Focus on the essay structure
• Review the essay

How To Choose A Topic And Make A Great Title?

To choose a topic for a paper on leadership, you need to do some research on the concept of a leader (whether in the corporate industry, political society or even in the criminal world). You have to know the current leadership tendencies in organizational groups or society. You can choose to make a leader the point of your reference by explaining the consequences of their leadership abilities or inabilities.

In the body of your essay, don’t forget to mention several types of leadership styles and point out which one the subject portrays. Finally, you should not rule out making comparisons of famous leaders in the modern world or in history. An example of a great prompt for a leadership essay that deploys the comparison technique would be the leadership styles of President Trump and The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte as both leadership styles have been subjected to political reviews in recent times since their emergence as president of their respective countries.

Outline For A Leadership Essay

When writing a college or professional essay such as -long and short essays on leadership, planning is the key to perfection. The general outline for any essay, including leadership papers, include an introduction, the body paragraphs (which must be properly linked with transition words and/or phrases) and a recapitulating or finding-based conclusions. Here’s what your outline should look like:

Introduction

Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader’s attention. The introduction presents the thesis statement and leaves the body paragraphs to sustain the reader’s interest.

Body Paragraphs

Having informed the readers of the topic of the essay in the introductory paragraph(s), the body paragraphs follow immediately.

Here, you can elaborate on the concept of leadership and do a meaningful interpretation of the subject – the topic or the thesis statement. Don’t forget to talk about your leadership philosophies and leadership experience in whatever capacity you might have found yourself in. Remember, people are more interested in personal experiences. They are great in helping to sustain readers’ attention.

Remember to state a thesis or hypothesis in the opening paragraphs – which is the intro. In each of the body paragraphs of the essay, try to relate your points to the thesis and use each point to prove its validity.

The conclusion is the end part of any well-structured essay. Its purpose is a no-brainer. You don’t want to leave your reader hanging by ending the essay cold turkey. Any standard essay without a conclusion is just as useless as an essay with no purpose. However, be careful not to present new ideas not mentioned in the body.

As mentioned, the conclusion serves to summarize the developed points, restate the thesis and/or present the findings. It is your last opportunity to create an impression on the reader, and this is where they take the message away. If your conclusion is weak, then we might say the essay’s objectives are not achieved.

What To Include In A Leadership Essay?

Here are some tips on what your leadership essay should include.

Your Definition Of A Good Leader And Why He Or She Is Important

Since your essay revolves around leadership and the traits of a good leader, you’ll need to define what it takes to be one. You may also take this opportunity to trash some common myths on what a leader is (i.e., a manager being confused for a leader).

For reference purposes, the concepts of leadership and being a good leader are explained:

Leadership is the quality of a leader and is that person capable of exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals. A leader is a guide; someone with ideas and goals that can spread to a large group of people who still believe he or she can lead them in the right direction.

There are many types of leaders and therefore, of leadership since people generally always look for a person or group that shows them a direction to follow. You can find religious, political, social, or philosophical leadership. Leadership can be exercised in a traditional way. In many countries, there is a monarchy. The king or queen is a leader with limited political power, at least in western democracies, but still have the respect and consideration of the people. Their words continue to be heard and taken into account, especially in problematic times. There are other types of leadership that are not given by birth, such as legitimate leadership exercised by, for example, political leaders freely chosen by their people, or charismatic leaders.

In a way, charismatic leaders are what many understand as leaders since they are people who, by their way of behavior and characteristics, get many people to follow and adhere to their ideas. Some charismatic leaders can become legitimate leaders if they choose the path of politics. A traditional leader can also be charismatic. There have always been kings loved by his people more than others. But it can also be a person who prefers independent movements outside of power.

Charisma is the personal magnetism a person has. It is something very difficult to define but makes one capable of convincing others without too much effort, making people follow and trust the leading figure. Charisma can be used positively or negatively. The leaders of the most destructive sects are very charismatic people that are capable of convincing their followers of the eeriest ideas, including donating all their belongings or committing collective suicide.

Examples Of Your Leadership Style

In the content of your essay, you may consider giving an interpretation to your (or your chosen leader’s) leadership traits. Below are some examples of leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a bad leader.

What qualities are necessary for leadership

• Communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Strategic thinking
• Commitment and passion
• Knowledge and experience
• Leading by example
• Active listening
• Ability to enhance talent
• Setting goals and expectations
• People investment
• Discernment
• Concentration
• Positive attitude
• Problem-solving
• Self-discipline

Leadership Essay Example

To know how to do essay fast, you’ll need some ready-made essay examples for the sake of guidance and inspiration. You may find below a leadership essay written by Oliver Smith useful in your leadership paper.

Writing a leadership essay should be easy. A good essay on leadership starts from the hook, and the thesis statement in the introduction. The points developed in the body paragraphs help affirm the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusion offers the reader a summary through the restatement of the essay’s main idea.

As required for every essay type, your essay on leadership has to follow a definite style and format. Examples are MLA, APA, Chicago and AP styles. Take your time in choosing a creative but new topic and also in writing the content. By following this guide, everything should be as perfect as possible.

Don't waste time

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• How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)

Leadership is a complex concept, but it’s essential for boosting your career. That’s why a leadership essay focuses on applying the theoretical models and concepts of successful management to real-life situations. 

If you don’t know where to start writing such a paper, please read on for professional tips!

What Is Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a paper that analyzes leadership concepts and their application to real-life situations that may involve everyday business management, crisis situations, and other scenarios. 

Every essay on leadership is about defining a concept. Then, it’s either comparing it to similar management tools or proving that it’s useful (or not).

While some students enjoy writing such papers, other learners hate them. The below samples will come in handy, no matter which group is yours.

What Does Leadership Mean to You? (Essay Sample)

It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself:

• Who is a good leader?  
• What style do they use?  
• What are the situations when they might switch styles?

You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to. In the example below, you will see the academic approach to this topic. It analyzes three leadership styles to discover which one corresponds to the meaning of leadership if one thinks of it as guidance and support.

Why I Want to Participate in a Leadership Program (Essay Sample)

It’s another example of a popular topic. Such papers often have a meaning beyond the classroom since they may decide whether you plan to participate in a specific program. It’s critical to make them as effective and compelling as possible.

A personalized approach is the best when it comes to essays like this. In the example below, you will see the paper that relies on individual beliefs and a personal life story to explain why it’s so important for the specific student to participate in the chosen program.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence,  aka  a thesis statement. That’s where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

Each body paragraph should correspond to the purpose of your essay. To ensure you don’t stray from the aim you’ve established in the thesis statement, write the topic sentences for all your paragraphs in the outline . In simple words, write the first sentence of every paragraph to define its development in advance and see if you cover everything you need.

And now, to the conclusion:

Its most essential element is thesis restatement or the first sentence of that paragraph. It’s not just paraphrasing your thesis; it’s also considering the new information you’ve discovered while writing the essay.

Structure :

• Introduction (End it with a thesis statement.)
• Body paragraphs (Each one starts with a topic sentence.)
• Conclusion (Start it with a thesis restatement.)

Understand the purpose of a leadership essay

When starting to write, think about why you’re creating this paper. Before you sit down and type the words, think about the ideas you want to convey and their meaning in your life:

Can this essay teach you to take responsibility? Or maybe will it help you understand how to be a leader in crisis situations? When you’ve answered the “why” question, begin outlining.

Build a strong thesis

Always start with your thesis statement. It will help incorporate your answer to that notorious “why” question into your essay. Once done, you can plan out the rest of the paper and start working on the body paragraphs as soon as you finish the introduction.

There’s another important tip —don’t rush into writing the conclusion before you finish everything else!

It might seem like a good idea to create a thesis statement and thesis restatement right off the bat. However, you’ll find yourself with more refreshing ideas after completing all the research and thinking necessary for the introduction and each body paragraph.

Decide on a structure; format accordingly

Even if your essay about leadership seems not so formal, and you can use personal pronouns, you still need a clear structure.

The best way to write any academic paper is to keep your introduction and conclusion as short as possible. (But no shorter than three sentences and four lines of text). 

Another important tip is to try making all your body paragraphs equal in length. That way, you’ll give the same attention to all the vital points of your essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay on Leadership Now?

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the most critical elements of a leadership essay. 

Remember the structure, grammar, and appropriate academic style to create a top-level paper. Please don’t forget to answer the “why” question and remember  why  you’re writing. Then you’ll impress everyone with your results!

References:

• https://lsa.umich.edu/onsf/news-events/all-news/directors-blog/writing-leadership-essays.html
• Essay samples
• Essay writing
• Writing tips

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Leadership Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Richard Pircher

As a college student, you must write essays on a regular basis since the latter is one of the most common types of home assignments. All this means is that in order to get good grades and be successful with writing the papers, you need to have a sound understanding of the structure. Additionally, what you should never neglect is the variety of essay types. Indeed, your essay will significantly differ from one type to another: description essay will most likely have a structure that is slightly different from an argumentative one.

What you may have already encountered in your academic life is the work on a leadership essay. Although it sounds pretty complicated and vague, it is mostly possible to master an essay on leadership. Below is a guide for you to get an insight into this particular essay type.

What is a good leadership essay?

A good leadership essay is the one in which the essay writer has fully covered the topic of leadership and understood its core ideas. More specifically, to end up with a flawless leadership essay, you will need to indicate what makes a person a good leader. For achieving the latter, you will most likely need to conduct research and trace how a particular person reaches his or her goals. In other words, the task is to discover which actions the person undertakes, what their followers say about him or her, and how the person organizes the work. So, a leadership essay implies providing real-life success examples and further revealing them.

Above all, a good leadership essay is the one that follows a precise, clear, comprehensive structure. Structuring your essay about leadership in the most coherent way leads to a win-win situation: you have fewer troubles and barriers to writing a brilliant essay, and your teacher is able to comprehend the essay easily. This guide is what you will need to refer to to get an insight into how the flawless structure for a leadership essay looks like and how it will let you take a benefit.

How to write a Leadership essay?

To write a leadership essay that stands out, you first need to brainstorm all the ideas that you have and come up with a topic for your essay. If you are struggling with this step, you may think of some of the most influential people, read about them, and find out what makes them unique. Or, you can pick any topic which is mentioned at the end of this article. After you have chosen an issue, it is time to structure your essay appropriately.

As you already know, an essay constitutes three essential sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Below is the more detailed description of each of the parts.

Introduction

Of course, your leadership essay introduction will always vary depending on the topic of the essay. However, you can always begin by stating your vision of leadership regardless of the topic. Additionally, to motivate the reader and instantly catch his or her attention, you may use a quote of a famous leader, or simply a quote which you find relevant to the topic. Be aware that you should avoid outlining the essence and the role of the leadership in your introduction; leave it for the body paragraphs.

What you may also do in your leadership essay is ask a question, which will most likely intrigue the leader. Or it will at least give your reader an overview of what you will dwell on  in your essay.

Body Paragraphs

You will need to divide the main body into 3-5 paragraphs to make the structure more comprehensive. What you have to do at this point  is  give your reader a sound understanding of your ideas. Therefore, try to fit each idea in a single body paragraph so that you do not confuse your reader. Do not hesitate to indicate your examples to strengthen your arguments. For instance, you may explain a fact that makes a particular person you are writing about a real leader.

Also, always stick to your thesis statement and don’t forget that the body paragraphs should reveal the parts of your thesis statement.

As you may already know, you need to restate your opinion and briefly summarize all the points from the main body in conclusion. For instance, if you wrote your essay on qualities of an effective leader, state the most fundamental qualities and indicate why they matter the most. Besides, try not to copy what you have already written in the body – it is better to restate your opinion using different words. And, of course, beware adding any new and extra information; indicate only those points that you have already outlined in the text. Finally, keep in mind that it is always favorable to keep your concluding remarks short.

Leadership Essay Examples

Writing a leadership essay requires some research and time. In case you feel the necessity to go through an essay example, below is a leadership essay sample you can refer to.

Is leadership an inborn or an acquired feature?

Is everyone capable of becoming a leader, or is this ability innate? A lot of researchers have been struggling to answer this question. One assumption about leadership implies that the leader is the person who possesses particular characteristics. Another assumption claims that leaders are capable of acquiring specific features over their life span. As the evidence shows, leaders own many features that distinguish them among others and make more and more people become their followers. These might be cognitive abilities, psychological traits, professional qualities, and a lot more, and all of them will be either acquired or innate. Based on the importance of leadership qualities, such as commitment, stress resistance, and the ability to make quality decisions, it is reasonable to claim that leaders are made, not born. 

One can deem commitment as one of the top fundamental qualities of the leader. In essence, such a feature indicates that a person is passionate about the common goal, strives to be a team player, and makes every effort to reach a shared goal. As the history shows, none of the successful companies was uncoordinated by an influential, committed leader: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft – all of these companies are examples of dominant teams led by a dedicated leader. A committed leader also inspires his or her team to achieve common goals and put more effort into the shared activity. Besides, commitment is unlikely to be an innate feature; it instead comes with experience. This is so, since commitment implies dedicating oneself to the shared task, and one can reach it only via learning and continuous self-improvement.

Stress resistance is another incredibly important feature that every good leader should possess. This is because only a stress-resistant leader has sufficient capabilities to overcome any complexity and not let the anxiety and stress prevent him or her from making proper decisions. Besides, such a leader will most likely have a positive influence on the team, as long as leading by example will motivate the team members to attain the same emotional stability. What is so far familiar about stress resistance as an effective leader’s feature is that it can be either innate or attained. However, although some researchers admit that emotional stability is something one is born with, it is not entirely true; many people still put a great effort into self-improvement, changing the attitude to unfortunate situations, and so on. Therefore, being resistant to stress can be mostly attributed to a personality.

An ability to make high-quality decisions most likely determines the chances for an enterprise’s success. In particular, such quality is incredibly fundamental for a company of any size and professional orientation. Additionally, it is one of the top tasks of a good leader to make final decisions. What he or she should do implies brainstorming, discussing various opinions in the group, making forecasts, analyzing all the pros and cons. However, the leader is the one to make a final decision. Thereby, he is in charge of researching the market, discovering all the hidden truths, and analyzing the organization’s potential and capabilities to result in the most effective decision. As it flows logically from the latter, an ability to make sound quality decisions is purely a professional quality. This leads to the conclusion that one has to work hard to become a genuine leader and master the skill of making effective decisions. 

Overall, the leader may possess a multitude of different skills and master them perfectly. However, what has so far become transparent is that any leader, regardless of which team he leads, must possess three essential qualities. These qualities are commitment to the common goal, ability to handle and resist stress, and, finally, an ability to make effective decisions. All of the three qualities are most likely to be acquired over a lifetime. The statement below leads to the conclusion that even though some qualities can be innate, most are not the ones that leaders are born with. Hence, this answers an essential question: leadership feature is acquired, and not necessarily inborn.  

20 leadership essay topics

When coming up with your next leadership essay topic, it is imperative to brainstorm ideas and think of what leadership might be related to. If you are struggling with a topic of the importance of leadership essay or any relevant type of essay, you may quickly take a look at some of the possible topics we prepared for you:

• What are the main qualities of the leader?
• Successful Time Management as a feature of an effective leader
• The role that rhetoric plays in leadership
• The most exceptional leader in the history of the 20-th century
• The role of female leadership
• What are the challenges of the leader of the 21-st century?
• How college helps students develop leadership skills?
• Qualities of the leader that motivate people to follow them 
• Top things to avoid doing to become a team leader
• Examples of effective and ineffective leadership in the history
• Top techniques for developing leadership skills
• The interconnection of creativity and leadership 
• Is a university’s role fundamental in developing leadership skills?
• Dictatorship as an anti-example of leadership
• Liberal vs Authoritative leadership: which one works better?
• The influence of the leader’s role model on the followers’ mindset
• Main difficulties that the new leader may face in a new team
• Leadership of today vs leadership of the past: what has changed?
• Reasons why I want to become a member if the leadership program
• The role of cognitive abilities for the leader 

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Essay Samples on Leadership

What type of leader i am: examining my leadership.

What type of leader are you? This question delves into the unique qualities, values, and approaches that define my leadership style. As a leader, I recognize that my actions and decisions influence others, and understanding my leadership style is crucial for effective collaboration and impact....

• Leadership Styles

How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

Becoming an effective leader requires more than just holding a position of authority; it entails embodying qualities that inspire and guide individuals toward shared goals. Whether leading a team, an organization, or a community, effective leadership is marked by the ability to foster collaboration, motivate...

• Effective Leadership

How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

Leadership is a multifaceted skill that involves guiding and inspiring individuals or groups toward a common goal. While leadership styles may vary, there are essential qualities and practices that define effective leadership. In this essay, we will explore how to be a good leader, discuss...

Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

Are leaders born or made? This age-old question has ignited debates, discussions, and exploration into the realms of leadership. The inquiry into whether leadership is an innate trait or a cultivated skill has intrigued scholars, practitioners, and curious minds. This essay delves into the heart...

• Leadership Development

Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

Successful leaders possess distinct traits and qualities that set them apart. One such leader is Barack Obama, who exemplifies several key leadership characteristics. Inspirational communication, unwavering conviction, and a willingness to take risks are among the qualities that have contributed to Obama's success. Furthermore, Obama's...

• Barack Obama
• President of The United States

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Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

Everybody can be a leader. Nevertheless, I feel that not every individual can lead effectively. I also believe that it is not a position but a process. Leadership is an action to influence other people to move and accomplish the same goal. Leaders are ineffective...

• Leadership and Management

Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

This reflective essay is an analytical look into my leadership experience not only as a leader but also as a member of a group. I specifically adopted the situational approach and the path-goal theory when presented with different leadership challenges hence the adoption of changing...

My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

I acquired leadership skills from early adulthood based on my experiences in church and my family. I developed organisational, resilience and other leadership skills which have been honed over the years. My leadership skills continued in secondary school when I started volunteering and campaigning against...

What Is Leadership For You

It is a general term that can have very different meanings with broader possibilities and scales associated with it, and it goes through some evolution with constant permutations and combinations that go on forever. It starts from ancient times and then into the Middle Ages...

Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

Dedication, strength, honor, and integrity, are just a few of the descriptive words that can be used to define a leadership role. Accountability, knowledge, as well as integrity are words used to help describe professionalism. Notice how the words used to describe these roles are...

The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

For countless millennia, we had witnessed the birth of several societies and organizations that had flourished from successful leadership. Today, in modern businesses you could immediately tell how the leadership it had evolved into at present and the leadership it had decades earlier. Take for...

• Personal Qualities

The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

My leadership philosophy is established about the need for a leader to encourage and inspire to do what motivates them. It can be accomplished by a leader and at the same time attaining the goals and the task of the team, department, institution, or corporation...

• Personal Beliefs

Chelladurai's Model Of The Leadership

The model that is used for leadership in sports would be the Chelladurai's model of leadership. Chelladurai's model is a framework which builds on research from non-sporting settings in order to analyze effective leadership in sport. The fundamental target of the leader is to achieve...

Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

Since the beginning of people’s lives, everyone makes choices and decisions which gradually define a person itself. It is often difficult to identify whether the decision was good or bad because each person has a different level of awareness of the importance. Some things which...

Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American technology entrepreneur and the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon.com. Since high school, he has had an interest in computer science which led to him pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986....

Management Vs Leadership: The Good And The Bad Of Being A Manager

Being a manager is a job. Being a leader is a role. Increasingly companies are seeing that you need both skills for an effective work environment. In the article, “What Leaders Really Do” by John Kotter, John highlights the differences between a leaders and managers,...

Ender's Game Character Analysis Essay

A mission that decides the destiny of humanity, its survival or obliteration, is a challenge many will succumb to. Failure is not an option. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who fights in...

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The Rule of Charlemagne: The Development of Europe Under Successful Leadership

“Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.”- Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, Charles the Great and the Father of Europe was an important Germanic figure in medieval times and has...

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The Benefits and Disadvantages of Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational Leadership deals with the motivation, inspiration, and encouragement of the personnel in order to carry out the innovative and creative change. This change directly helps the company in the growth and allows the scope for development. This leadership style is based on improving the...

• Charismatic Leadership

What Makes a Leader Charismatic

Leadership is a dense genre that had remained under debate regarding the difference in opinions of the definition and components of leadership, and either it is intrinsic quality or learned behavior. Despite all the debate, Leadership can be contributed as a personal impact that is...

The Influence of Mansa Musa's Leadership

The most important aspects of this topic would be the importance of Mansa rebuilding the Mali empire. After he helped rebuild the empire they were more powerful and had a more important standing within society. The emperor who came to make a difference within their...

My Motivation to Obtain the Darwin T. Turner Scholarship

The Darwin T. Turner Scholarship is a program of diversity and leadership initiatives. Hello, my name is Simratdeep Kaur and I believe I should be a Turner Scholar because I show great potential in the future. I have maintained great academics, participated in many school...

• Scholarship

What Does Being Inducted into National Honor Society Mean to Me

From the time I was inducted into National Junior Honor Society in seventh grade, I had always dreamed of the day when I would walk across the stage to become a part of National Honor Society. I have been continuously determined to do my very...

• National Honor Society

The Four Tenets of National Honor Society I Exemplify in My Everyday Life

Induction into the National Honor Society validates academic goals that I have worked extremely hard towards thus far. Membership would not only help maintain my academic performance, but assist me in accomplishing further goals of my school career. Getting accepted into NHS has been a...

A Brave Leader: The Success of Rosa Parks Leadership

Refusing to give up your seat on the bus; a seemingly trivial decision in the goings-on of everyday life. Maybe one would be considered rude, or irritate others – but beyond that, the effects of the refusal would seem relatively insignificant. How is it then,...

• Racial Segregation

Implementation of Leadership and Personal Development Planning in South Africa

Introduction Post-1994, the dream of the masses (previously disadvantaged groups), was a vision of self-governance, prosperity, equality, liberation and a sense of belonging and patriotism. Most of all, the yoke of Apartheid was demolished, it was a new future that held promise, a better life...

• Personal Development Planning

The History of Syrian Leadership and Its Impact on the State of a Country

Syria became one of the most discussed and controversial countries in the world in recent years due to its ongoing armed conflict. Millions of Syrians escaped from their homeland looking for a shelter and a better future abroad causing internal conflicts in highly developed countries...

The Concept of Leadership and Mother Teresa as Its Vivid Illustration

Leaders have the power and the intellect behind the organization, and they have the capability to influence the ones working for the company to accomplish and reach the company’s goal. According to Patel (2017), a strong manager or leader must reach and develop eleven traits...

• Mother Teresa

Investigating the Losses and Leadership Positions in Starbucks

The Starbucks brand started in 1971 by opening its to begin with store area in Seattle, Washington. Within the 1970s and 1980s, Starbucks Corporation experienced victory within the U.S. market. By 1987, Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks after serving for 5 years within the operation division...

The Humor Style Suitable for Leadership Positions

Throughout this report, the main topic in focus will be the Leader Humor Style. The definition of humor is not straightforward, “Over the years, researchers have been trying to arrive at one definition of humour which is both comprehensive and universal. All their efforts have...

The Results Of My S.M.A.R.T. Leadership Experience

Leadership, S.M.A.R.T. goals, and the Seven Habits profile are all interconnected in many ways. Throughout the course of this paper I will address the results of my Seven Habits profile, servant leadership, and make S.M.A.R.T. goals. They will assist me in becoming a better leader...

• Emotional Intelligence

The Definition of Leadership: Barack Obama's Presidency

Leadership can mean various things a success, power, efficiency, andintelligence. Among other qualities. However, leadership is taken into accountwhen the leader or the person who is the heads of a movement has the abilityto influence others and make a positive impact on the world around...

Leadership Is My Strong Side

Mustering the courage, penetrating the challenge, and engendering the creativity are the abilities to define myself as a visionary leader. After the head of Corporate Social Responsibility of PT Pertamina Region VII awarded me as the best presenter in Pertamina Technology Challenge, an opportunity as...

• About Myself

The Importance of Good Ethics and Leadership in Society

One of the most important, yet least understood phenomena on earth is leadership. The research was done to investigate leadership traits, activities, behaviour, and processes; yet, until Burns (1978), a few researchers were able to distinguish between leadership that is "transactional" and leadership that is...

• Human Behavior

Change Management in Organizations Dependency on Leadership

This paper seeks to establish how change can be effectively introduced to the challenging global business environment of today. However, to establish this, one has to first understand what a change management strategy is and to critically analyze the key composition of an ideal change...

• Change Management

Analysis Of Individual Aspects Of Leadership

The first factor for business success is empowering leadership. Leadership has taken companies to its peak of success. This report will look into the leadership style of Sandberg in the different companies she had worked. How her leadership skills influenced and impacted the people she...

Application Of Engineering Leadership To Improve Group's Performance

This case occurred during a practical lab session where my group and I were tasked with a graded lab report based on that session’s experiment. That week’s experimental procedure was knowledge-intensive and rigorous, requiring a good understanding of that week’s lecture content while involving many...

• Engineering

Best Way For Society To Prepare It's Youth For Leadership

The provided memo brings a lot of questions to mind. These need to properly addressed before jumping to the conclusion that increasing the advertising budget will help increase the attendance of people in movies produced by Super Screen Movie Production Company. Firstly, the memo talks...

• Modern Society

Classic Leadership And Organization Dilemmas

The main challenge of any organization is to perform tasks in the right time. If they cannot perform it within the prescribed time, their ongoing work can be interrupted. Therefore, if the job is to be executed at a given time, it is necessary to...

• Organizational Behavior

Jim Davis Case Study Analysis: The Problem Of Leadership And Power

Leadership and power have a fine line in which they were most effectively together. In that relationship it is important that a good sense of credibility is established in order to achieve and maintain a status. The problem at hand is how Jim is going...

Leadership – The Art Of Managing People

The capacity to sort out a gathering of individuals or an organization is called leadership. The individual who directs the gathering is characterized as a Leader. Despite the fact that the bigger fault and less credit come to them, a pioneer is the foundation of...

Leadership And Management In International Hospitality Business

Introduction Leadership includes giving the data, information, and techniques to understand that vision, and organizing and adjusting the clashing interests of all individuals and partners. Be that as it may, the initiative has changed after some time and has made numerous difficulties for the individuals...

• Hospitality
• Marketing Management

Leadership In Different Aspects Of Life

Introduction Leadership is defined to be the action of leading a group of people or an organization. In the coaching profession, coaches lead their teams. If you were to ask me what my personal definition and general philosophy of leadership is, I would say, “Leadership...

• Personal Life

The Challenges in the Leadership School: Stepping out of the Comfort Zone

I applied to leadership school and I was told it was going to easy but boy was I wrong. As soon we got on the bus things turned for worse. First, all phones were confiscated as we got on the bus then we to be...

Leadership Style And Influence Of Two Historical Figure

This is an extensive study of leadership styles and scope of influence of 2 historical figures of Nepal. “Siddhartha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) and Prithivi Narayan Shah. They can be seen as an effective and influential leader known to whole world. I found difference in their...

Leadership Theories And Personal Evaluation

Trait Theory Of the eight trait theories presented in the textbook I feel that I possess predominantly the desire to lead, honesty, integrity and emotional intelligence. In most jobs that I have been employed, I often find myself thinking of ways that the manager could...

Psychology Of Work: Organizational Leadership Theories

In lieu of the changing business environments globally, companies strive to be competent enough to be able to respond to customer expectations, have sound and healthy relationships with all the stakeholders, have operations that are transparent and accountable and increase their bottom line fulfilling their...

• Social Psychology

Revitalization Through New Leadership For Success In Any Field

The topic presented here makes a very valid argument that revitalization through new leadership is crucial for success in any field, be it politics, education or government. I am in concord with the claim that those in power should graciously make way at regular intervals...

An Overview of the Five Levels of Leadership

Nowadays the word ¨leadership¨ is used in all spheres of society, from the political field to the business and religious fields. One of the modern precursors of the study of leadership is John C. Maxwell, who for years has used and taught an instrument of...

The Social Influence Of Leadership On Human

For many years, many people (scholars) have had lot of interest in leadership, there have been many debates and some occasional confusion explaining the concept of leadership or what it really means. (Bass 1981) (Northouse, P 2016) Even now, defining it is not as easy...

Value Proposition Of Investing In It Leadership

Companies that invests in IT leadership perform much better than the companies that don’t. IT Leadership development is very important for creating competition and having an upper hand over other companies. A standout amongst the most important internal features to implement change is IT Leadership...

Essay About What Leadership Means To Me

For me, leadership means not only pursue success for myself but also to motivate and empower others to do the same by setting the perfect example to follow. For me, leadership means knowing where to go, leading the right path, taking new challenges and not...

Best topics on Leadership

1. What Type of Leader I Am: Examining My Leadership

2. How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

3. How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

4. Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

5. Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

6. Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

7. Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

8. My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

9. What Is Leadership For You

10. Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

11. The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

12. The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

13. Chelladurai’s Model Of The Leadership

14. Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

15. Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

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Essays About Effective Leadership: Top 6 Examples and Prompts

Effective leadership is an essential trait that all people should strive to develop; here are 6 examples and topic ideas essays about effective leadership .

Many qualities make an inspiring and effective leader, such as vision, focus, and motivation. Like other skills, effective leadership can be innate or learned and practiced. When writing about leadership, include the strengths of an effective leader and how these qualities positively impact their team. You can also discuss weaknesses that can make a poor leader and how to combat these issues.

Here are 6 examples and 10 essay prompts to get you started on your next essay.

1. What Makes an Effective Leader? by Tony Gill

2. a guide to becoming an effective leader by yashi srivastava , 3. leadership: 5 practices of effective leaders by yvette gyles, 4. 6 characteristics of an effective leader by lauren landry, 5. six leadership lessons by order of the peaky blinders by andrew denton mbe, 6. leadership and the quest for certainty by keith grint,  1. what is effective leadership, 2. what does effective leadership look like in the corporate industry, 3. what to avoid to become an effective leader, 4. habits of an effective leader, 5. studying the mindsets of effective leaders, 6. effective leadership and its benefits to an organization, 7. indicators of strong and effective leadership, 8. poor leadership vs. effective leadership, 9. real-life examples of effective leadership, 10. how perception creates effective leadership.

“Work at using leadership styles that do not come naturally, styles that you find difficult. By becoming a well-rounded leader, it is easier to adapt your leadership technique for different situations.”

Gill uses a research-based approach to answer the central question of his essay. He looks at various sources that tackle the topic of effective leadership and stitch them together to make a comprehensive guide to effective leadership.

“Leadership is not a mystical quality, and anyone can become a more effective leader by developing some important skills.”

The author, Yashi Srivastava, defines what differentiates leaders from managers first. Then, she provides some dos and don’ts of an effective leader and how people could apply them in different situations. 

“Whereas as leaders, we need to be concerned about creativity and innovation, making positive changes, and seeking to challenge and push boundaries.”

Gyles specializes in leadership training for companies, so her approach to the essay is geared more toward company leaders. Nevertheless, it’s highly educational for all those interested in learning effective leadership meant for dealing with various people and guiding people to a direction or goal.

“Effective leaders don’t avoid the hard truths. Instead, they take responsibility for their decisions, maintain optimism, and focus on charting a new course of action.”

Landry’s essay focuses on her six top characteristics of an effective leader. Some of these characteristics are what you’d expect to see in an essay like this. Entries like transparency are less common but equally important in practicing effective leadership.

“Rolling your sleeves up with everyone else not only sets an example, it makes people want to follow you.”

Fiction mirrors life, and it’s one of the best sources to learn lessons that are otherwise too complex or vague to see in real life. Despite his penchant for crime and violence, Thomas Shelby is undeniably one of the most influential leaders on TV. This essay details the leadership skills used by a 1920s gangster character and how you can use them in modern life to become an effective and inspiring leader.

“Leadership is often associated with certainty; indeed, it is sometimes reduced to the decision-making process such that anything which smacks of uncertainty is categorized as weakness or a failure of leadership.”  

Grint’s essay on leadership explores the factors around leaders’ certainty or confidence. Of course, not all leaders have a clear answer to a problem, which is fine. The important thing is that they have a mindset to look for solutions and a modicum of honesty about their lack of uncertainty.

10 Essay Prompts on Effective Leadership

It’s your turn to express and explore your view of effective leadership. Use these prompts to work out your approach or steps to effective leadership. Here are ten prompts about effective leadership to help you get started on your essay.

Defining effective leadership is one way to explore your understanding of the idea. Remember that your definition of effective leadership could vastly differ from the other essays you’ve read. It’s also a great starting point for new people who want to warm up to the habit of writing essays about leadership.

Essay writing tip: If you’re new to writing essays, consider simplifying your essay. Try shortening it down to a five-paragraph essay .

You can find many leaders in the corporate industry, but some are more effective than others. Use this prompt to work out how you envision effective leadership in the corporate world. You can also apply the same idea to other fields, like at school, among friends or peer groups, or in the family. Consider carefully the field or organization you’d like to use for the essay.

You may have personal experience with a person who could have been an effective leader if not for their bad habits. You might have been that person and realized how your bad habits had held you back from practicing effective leadership. This is your chance to write about your experience, whether via observing someone else or through personal growth.

Practicing effective leadership goes beyond having direction and a vision for the organization. Becoming an effective leader also takes time and patience. Use this prompt to discuss the habits of great leaders and how these habits make them effective in their leadership.

Get into the mind of a leader and explore how such a person might become more effective in their leadership. This topic may involve discussing various people, whether real-life persons or fictional characters. Research how they think, handle their role and manage the people they lead.

Understanding the benefits of effective leadership is one of the best ways to drive someone to practice and adopt it. Use this prompt to detail how an effective leader boosts morale, productivity, motivation, communication quality, and confidence in the people they lead. It applies to all organizations, like businesses, teams, and networks.

How do you know whether a person’s leadership style and approach are effective or not? Use this essay topic to discover the different methods of measuring effective leadership. Read about the different measurements and indicators of leadership used in corporations and organizations.

Leaders can be good, mediocre, or bad in their leadership approaches and styles. This essay prompt will push you to compare bad leadership and effective leadership. You can also add methods of improving one’s leadership style to become more effective.

You can find a lot of excellent leaders throughout history. This idea focuses on discussing different leaders, their leadership styles, and levels of effectiveness.

Interpersonal skills are vital to great leadership. Perception of others’ feelings and thoughts can help you become an even better and more effective leader. Discuss how intuitiveness positively affects one’s leadership style. 

Check out our list of great essay writing topics for students for more topics to improve your writing.

Defining Leadership

• Published: 26 July 2022
• Volume 22 , pages 99–128, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• David Carl Wilson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7098-3634 1 , 2  

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This essay examines the concept of leadership as it is commonly understood within the field of leadership studies today. The inquiry is framed by an analysis of three generally accepted definitions of leadership. I look at the selected definitions from four angles, which I call the four dimensions of leadership: the behavioral (what the leader does, or ought to do, that makes it leadership), the asymmetrical (in what sense a leader is different from the others in the group), the social (what it is that the leader is leading), and the teleological (what the direction is). By doing this, I find that these definitions can be problematic, if instructively so. I identify two underlying concerns. The first problem is the tendency to fuse informal and formal leadership into a single concept. I argue that informal and formal leadership can be more helpfully understood, rather, as two separate, if sometimes overlapping, concepts, each needing its own definition and analysis. This is because formal leadership is a functional concept, while informal leadership is not; this entails not only that each type of leader is leading a different type of entity, but also that each is judged by different standards. The second problem is, paradoxically, a bias against leadership. To put this less polemically: scholars who recognize that organizational success can be hindered by excessive emphasis upon hierarchy, and who thus study the dynamics of egalitarian collaboration, can inadvertently generate confusion by allowing the honorific of “leadership” to be applied also to that work. So, I propose definitions of the two key concepts, formal and informal leadership, with the suggestion that this provides a helpful method of sorting leadership scholarship into three categories: formal leadership; informal leadership; and egalitarianism.

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Joseph Rost provided an exhaustive account of almost a century’s worth of leadership definitions in his 1991 book. See (Rost 1991 ). At that point, interest in defining it (and interest in Rost’s own definition) waned. Here are four recent efforts since Rost’s book, none of which has gained traction: (Barker 2001 , 469); (Avolio et al. 2003 , 277); (Kort 2008 , 409); (Crevani 2018 , 83). Each of our three textbooks provides its own list of historical definitions, mostly drawn from the Rost compendium.

The general conceptual problem is credited to (Gallie 1956 , 167).

Not only do these books reflect the state of the academic field, but, in turn, it is likely that they influence it. Given their widespread use, many leadership scholars have probably begun by studying one of these books, or by studying with someone who has done so, and thus their own research has likely been informed from the start by these very definitions.

There is a downside to this strategy. As noted, each textbook aims to present the state of the art in leadership studies. Some of the scholars I have already cited, however, find the state of the art to be less than coherent, and partly owing to disagreements about how to define the art itself. Perhaps, then, the most we can expect of the expert textbook writer is to seek as much coherence and utility as possible, without simultaneously litigating the disagreements in order to rehabilitate the discipline. Textbook authors have justification, that is, for putting forward definitions that are inclusive enough to encompass everything that currently passes for leadership studies, even while perhaps tacitly understanding that a better definition might disqualify large portions of their books. This can contribute to the “everything and nothing” syndrome. That is not to deny that these authors, all of whom are scholars in their own right, engage critically with their subject; my point is the smaller one that they have reason in this context to keep their definitions of leadership as elastic as possible.

Joanne Ciulla also discusses criteria for defining leadership in her contribution to the Antonakis volume, and is largely content to rely on ostension (A, 443).

Determining which is the concept and which is the conception depends upon the starting point. If we are analyzing measuring instruments, then a clock would be one way of measuring things, and so would, in such a case, be a conception of the concept of a measuring instrument. Or, it could go in the other direction. If our focus is solely on battery-operated clocks, then that could be the relevant concept, whereas different ways of realizing battery-operated clocks would count as conceptions.

Northouse writes: “…My purpose is to explore how leadership theory can inform and direct the way leadership is practiced” (N, vii). Antonakis notes that “leadership…is arguably one of the most important functions of society,” (A, xxiii) and that “research must…adequately inform practice” (A, 14). And Yukl concurs: “Topics of special interest are the determinants of leadership effectiveness and how leadership can be improved” (Y, 16).

Machiavelli has something similar in mind when he writes, “Many have dreamed up republics and principalities which have never in truth been known to exist.” Rather, he explains: “Since my intention is to say something that will prove of practical use to the inquirer, I have thought it proper to represent things as they are in real truth, rather than as they are imagined” (Machiavelli 1961 , 91).

Comment from an anonymous reviewer.

See, for example, (Fuss 2013 , xi).

This was my worry about Yukl’s idea that there might be a technical academic meaning of leadership.

Yukl engages in something like this when he excludes certain sorts of organizations, such as parliaments and social movements, from his purview (Y, 16).

This distinction is neatly developed by (Robinson 1972 , 59).

Some of this is drawn from a detailed account of how semantic ambiguity can derail a conversation, and how to avoid it, in (Wilson 2020 ).

Another objection to settling for dictionary definitions—an objection too far-reaching to explore here–might be that we are, in principle, examining not a word but a concept; our definition needs to capture what it is about this word that is common to words found in the dictionaries of other languages which express the same concept.

This is to be distinguished from the participle “leading,” which functions as an adjective or adverb. “Leadership” can also, of course, be pressed into service as an adjective, as in the case of, say “leadership studies.” And, as a noun, it can secondarily refer to a status, as in, “Let’s take this problem to leadership.”.

See also, for example, (Peterson and Seligman 2004 ).

Antonakis, to be fair, later offers a definition of the science of leadership in which his leader does some work; the science of leadership, he says, is the study of “how this process depends on the leader’s traits and behaviors” and how they bear on “the outcomes of the entity led” (A, 5). But his definition of leadership, the thing that this science is to study, has given us no way to identify who it might be whose traits and behaviors we might study.

“Emergent” has been used for decades in leadership studies to capture leadership that is, in effect, appearing out of nowhere, in contrast to having appeared systematically as formal, appointed, assigned, or selected leadership. That is, it has been used to capture leadership that is informal. Here is a passage from a paper by Judge, et.al. cited by David Day, Antonakis’s co-editor: “Leadership emergence is a within-group phenomenon, as evidenced by many early studies of leadership that were conducted in groups with no formal leader…that is, a leader emerged from within a group.” (Judge et al. 2002 , 767). Day, surprisingly, cites this passage as proof that “it is most definitely not the case” that “emergent” and “informal” are synonymous in the leadership literature. (“Thus,” he says, “it is most definitely not the case that in the place of ‘informal,’ the preferred synonym is ‘emergent.’” Day’s comments are from private communication, used by permission.) My reading of the Judge passage is different, to wit: when leaders emerge within “groups with no formal leader,” they have thereby been stipulated not to be formal leaders; that is, they are informal leaders, unless and until they become formal leaders—at which point they are no longer merely emergent. So the passage seems to me to confirm the practical interchangeability of the two terms. I agree, of course, that they are not precise synonyms (nor are “formal,” “appointed,” “assigned,” and “selected”). “Informal” is strictly the condition of not being formal, while “emergent” carries the suggestion of a progression that is underway. But because the progression is not a formal one, and may or may not culminate in formalization, the literature often uses “emergent” to pick out that lack of formality. There are examples in the literature of so-called emergent, and thereby informal, leadership both inside and outside of formal groups in, for example (Hollander 1961 , 32). There are even examples in the literature of emergent leadership among primates, as in (van Vugt 2018 ). And there are examples of emergent leadership that becomes formal, even as in other cases it remains informal, as in (Luria and 

Berson 2013 , 995).

We know from experience, of course, that if shared too widely the dilution renders it nonexistent, for practical purposes.

What I can do, of course, is also affected by my personal capabilities. Note that the literature often calls these positional , rather than using the existing and perfectly idiomatic term official.

“Showing leadership” also applies to someone who does not have the formal position but whose behavior reflects the ability to carry out the responsibilities of such a position.

This idea is further developed in (Wilson 2017 , 185).

Even in the cases when the behavior can be described the same way, say, as “inspiring a group member to achieve great things,” the formal leader’s behavior can also be an instance of “acting in order to carry out the obligation to lead the organization,” which cannot be a description of the informal leader’s behavior.

Yukl’s inclusion of facilitation as well as influence puts his definition in a stronger position to encompass a broader range of behavior. But, for him, the facilitation is also a process, and he fails to identify the place of the leader in the process; that is, he omits any identification of the facilitator.

See especially chapters 5 and 7. In addition to the process of leadership, Rost does discuss what he calls the “content” of leadership, which he describes as the moral element of “the changes (decisions, policies, positions) that one supports” (Rost 1991 ,153). Rost does not, however, work out this distinction very helpfully, and it has not received serious attention since then.

And, for Yukl, also the process of facilitating.

David Day, private communication, quoted by permission.

This is developed further in (Wilson 2018 , 377).

Yukl, in fact, may be warning against just that when he stipulates that the process and the person “are not assumed to be equivalent” (Y, 26).

And there is no need, so far as I can tell, to try to specify here how many individuals make a group.

Influence, says Northouse, is “how the leader affects followers.” (N, 6). Yukl designates all non-leaders as followers (Y, 22). And Antonakis takes care to “recognize the importance of followers,” and to acknowledge that it is “largely because of followers that leaders are legitimized” (A, 6).

It may be that this is where Antonakis is going by stating in his definition of leadership that it is “contextually rooted;” that is, he may be indicating that leadership is different things in different contexts, partly as a way of nodding to the contingency and contextual theories of leadership that are covered by contributing authors in his textbook.

I take my cue from Rawls, whose theory of justice is intended to apply only under what he denotes “the circumstances of justice.” (Rawls 1971 , 126).

Although “institution” and “organization” are often distinguished from one another in the organizational studies literature, I take him to be using the terms interchangeably here. Note that Philip Selznick, for example, sketches out a well-known contrast between organizations and institutions in (Selznick 1957 , 5).

There is a growing body of philosophical literature in social ontology and collective intentionality. It would be a diversion to review all of that literature and its controversies here; my aim is to adumbrate the central compelling case that there is, indeed, something about an organization that transcends the aggregation of its members.

See, for example (Ripken 2019 ).

It is not strictly correct to classify moral considerations as external, since they are human considerations, and the group is made up of humans. The internal standards for the right direction might be very different if the sole difference in the organization were that only robots were members. But this rough-and-ready distinction is, I hope, nevertheless useful.

The paraphrased definitions seem to be in the right neighborhood for informal (but not formal) leadership, although in need of wordsmithing. Antonakis identifies it as “influencing the goals of the followers,” and for Yukl it is about “agreeing what needs to be done and how to do it;” these are beliefs and values, however, not actions. My informal leadership could consist in stirring you from your inertia in order to act in ways, and toward goals, that you already accepted. Northouse identifies the teleology in terms of influence “to achieve a common goal” and having a “mutual purpose;” that is often true, but I might also be an informal leader by virtue of influencing each of you to pursue your own self-interest in a specific way (for example, by boosting your individual sales, having gained your following by my own record-setting example).

This notion is elaborated helpfully by (MacIntyre 1981 , 58).

For example, there is the issue of organizational teleology—the goals of the organization itself, which may be different from the goals of its members, and which seem to be an important factor in leadership teleology (making it triply teleological?). Further, there is the issue of the extent to which good formal leadership can be separated from moral, or human, leadership, given the simple fact that, even though powers-that-be create the function, these are human beings and not robots. But these questions are best saved for another time.

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Wilson, D.C. Defining Leadership. Philosophy of Management 22 , 99–128 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-022-00210-7

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Received : 24 January 2022

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What Does Leadership Mean?

According to the Brandon Hall Group, more than 70 percent of employees feel their leaders cannot carry their companies into the future. The organization’s research shows a mere 18% of businesses render their leaders “very effective” at meeting their organization’s goals. This demonstrates a gap between being given the opportunity to lead and effectively leading. To amend this problem, those in leadership roles need to answer two questions: “What is a leader?” and “What does leadership mean?”

What is Leadership?

Characteristics of a good leader , needed leadership traits include, but are not limited to:.

Find out how to develop the top 25 leadership qualities . 

Top Leaders Answer “What Does Leadership Mean to You?”

Below are some of the top quotes describing the meaning of leadership: .

Read more inspiring leadership quotes . 

3 Tips for Strengthening Leadership Skills

Answering the question, “What does leadership mean?” is the same as asking, “What actions should I practice to become a better leader?” This is because leadership is an action. Think of becoming an effective leader in an organization as becoming a professional basketball player. You need the desire, passion, resilience, and talent to reach the highest level of the game. Still, these resources aren’t enough. You’ll need to spend day-in and day-out refining your technique and skill set, despite how naturally gifted you are. Greatness doesn’t present itself on a silver platter. Leaders who want to know what strong leadership means have to put in the work to find out for themselves. To start the journey of doing this, practice the tips below. 

1. Define Your Vision and Mission  

2. work on gaining emotional intelligence , to develop an increased level of emotional intelligence:, 3. make growth and development a top goal .

Discover the answer to, “ Why is leadership important ?”

Effective Leadership is Not Management 

With that being said, are you leading or managing? While the two aren’t mutually exclusive, it is important that people know the difference so they can focus on doing the actions that develop impactful, purpose-driven companies. Letting managers manage and leaders lead allows everyone to properly play their role without stepping on each others’ toes. Additionally, leaders who try to lead and manage will find themselves with little to no work-life balance . This causes work stress and burnout because both positions are full-time jobs.

The Difference Between Leadership and Management

Servant Leadership: The Ultimate Key To A Healthy Business

Situational Leadership: Flexibility Produces Positive Results

Essay Sample on What Does Leadership Mean to You

Leadership – what it means to me.

Leadership is an essential quality to have in any facet of life. Whether you’re in the workplace, a team setting, or even at home, having leadership skills can make all the difference.

It is a complex concept, and there are many different definitions and aspects of leadership. By the way, each person has their own way of doing things. If you have some difficulties with writing an essay about this, don’t be scared to ask for help. An online custom essay writing service can help you with this. For sure, it’s good for your leadership skills – ask for help when you understand that something is beyond your control.

So, to some, leadership is about being the front-runner in a group and taking charge when needed. To others, it’s about inspiring others around them and helping them reach their potential. It could also be about leading by example or being the moral compass for an organization or team.

No matter what your definition of leadership is, it requires hard work and dedication. It takes courage to step up in difficult situations and take responsibility for your own actions as well as those of your team or organization.

Let’s explore the concept of leadership from various perspectives and discuss tips for writing an essay on this subject together.

What Does Leadership Mean To Me? (Free Essay Sample)

Leadership is a topic that I have always been interested in. I think it’s because of the fact that I am a leader myself. My role as a leader has changed over the years and will continue to change as time goes on.

To me, leadership means taking charge of my life and making decisions on my own behalf. It also means having confidence in what I say and do, even if other people disagree with me. Leadership also means being able to take criticism from others without getting upset or angry about it!

To be a mentor

Also, having the power to influence people and help them achieve common goals. It’s about having the ability to create a positive atmosphere where everyone can thrive and work together toward achieving success. Leaders should be those who know how to bring out the best in their team and encourages them to reach their full potential. They should have a strong sense of empathy, be able to think strategically, and have great communication skills.

Be responsible

Leaders must as well be willing to accept responsibility for their actions, both good or bad. This includes acknowledging mistakes when they happen, as well as owning up to successes when they occur. Being accountable helps build trust between leaders and their teams, which is essential for any successful organization or group of people. This allows leaders to foster relationships with their team members, which can create a stronger sense of unity among everyone involved.

Be a role model

People with this skill should always strive to set an example for their team members with their own behavior and attitude. Setting the tone for others by displaying positive behavior can go a long way in creating an atmosphere of respect and cooperation within the group dynamic. A strong leader will also ensure that everyone is held accountable for their actions while maintaining morale among all members of the group or organization.

Be honest with yourself

Leadership means to me, being able to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses and be willing to ask for help when you need it. It means knowing when to delegate authority to others and when to take charge of yourself.

I believe there are many different types of leaders out there today; some are good leaders while others are not so good at what they do. It all depends on how much time you spend studying leadership techniques and finding out what works best for you as an individual leader.

To be a leader is all of these things and more. To me, leadership is the art of getting things done through others. It is the ability to inspire and motivate others to work towards common goals. It is being able to effectively organize a group of people toward a single objective and then effectively directing their efforts toward that objective.

I think that management is something that comes naturally to some people but can be learned by others. This is a skill that anyone can learn and apply to their own lives, whether they are in a position of authority or not.

Famous Leaders Who Inspire Me

There are many famous people throughout history that have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills. One leader that I find particularly inspiring is Nelson Mandela. His commitment to justice and equality was unwavering even when faced with extreme adversity. He used his platform as president of South Africa to promote peace and harmony among all people regardless of race or religion. His legacy serves as an important reminder that with hard work, dedication, and perseverance anything is possible!

Another leader that has inspired me is Mahatma Gandhi. He was a master at nonviolent resistance which he used in India during its fight for independence from the British Empire. His peaceful tactics gained worldwide attention which eventually helped India achieve its freedom from colonial rule without violence or bloodshed. He showed us how powerful nonviolence can be when used for good!

Finally, my definition of leadership wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Martin Luther King Jr., who famously said “I have a dream…” He used his platform as a civil rights activist to promote racial equality in America through peaceful protest and civil disobedience which ultimately led to the advancement of civil rights legislation in the United States. His words still resonate with millions around the world today.

In conclusion, I want to say that leadership is an essential quality that everyone should strive towards possessing in some form or another. For me, it means taking the initiative, being accountable for your actions, and leading by example in order to foster a positive environment within any given group setting or organization. It takes hard work but can be incredibly rewarding! With these qualities combined together as part of a leadership style, I’m sure everyone will be able to succeed no matter what challenges they face!

Tips for Writing an Essay About Leadership

When you are writing an essay on leadership, you can analyze personal statement essay examples . This can help you highlight writing tips by yourself. But if you are searching for easy ways, there are some important tips you should keep in mind.

Choose a specific example or story that illustrates your point about leadership

This could be either a personal experience or something you witnessed first-hand. Make sure that you focus on one particular event or situation so that your essay remains focused and concise.

Explain why your example is relevant

Once you’ve chosen an example or story, make sure you explain why it is relevant to what leadership means to you. What lessons did you learn from this experience that informs your current understanding of leadership? How has it shaped your beliefs?

Use concrete examples

When writing about any concept or idea, it’s important to use concrete examples that illustrate your points rather than abstract language or generalizations. Doing so will make your essay more engaging for readers, as well as more convincing in terms of demonstrating your understanding of the concept at hand.

Avoid cliches

While cliches can provide easy ways for expressing yourself in an essay, they can also make it sound generic and unoriginal — which is exactly what you don’t want! Instead of relying on cliches when discussing topics such as leadership, try to come up with unique ideas and phrases that capture what you are trying to say without sounding too similar to other essays written on this same topic.

That’s it! Go ahead and tell the world about your leadership!

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628 Leadership Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for leadership essay topics to write about? Being both an exciting research area and a practical skill, leadership is definitely worth exploring!

• 🔝 Top 10 Essay Topics

📃 Leadership Essay: How to Write

• 🏆 Best Essay Examples
• 👍 Interesting Essay Topics
• 🎓 Simple & Easy Essay Titles
• 📌 Controversial Title Ideas
• 🥇 Good Topics to Write

✍️ Leadership Essay Topics for College

❓ leadership essay questions.

In your leadership essay, you might want to take a look at the sphere of government or elaborate on the role of leadership in business organizations. Here we’ve gathered most catchy leadership title ideas together with leadership essay examples. There are also useful tips on writing your introduction, conclusion, and formulating a thesis statement.

🔝 Top 10 Leadership Essay Topics

• Leadership as a research area and a practical skill
• Theories of leadership
• Functional leadership theory
• Autocratic and democratic leadership styles: compare and contrast
• Task-oriented leadership style: the key features
• Measuring leadership: the main approaches
• Gender and leadership in Western countries
• The concept of leadership: myths and misunderstandings
• Emotional intelligence and leadership: the connection
• Leadership in non-human animals

While writing a leadership essay, you may struggle with the subject, structure, titles, and other components. Don’t worry – these tips will help you to write the best leadership paper!

Tip 1. Choose your subject area first. If your professor did not provide specific topics, you would need to select one on your own. In order to do this, you may focus on an area of leadership that sounds interesting to you.

For example, if you consider working in the hospitality sector in the future, write about leadership in hotels or restaurants. Alternatively, you can browse leadership essay topics online and see if that gives you any clarity.

Tip 2. Narrow down the topic. To ensure that your essay earns high marks, you should avoid choosing an area of leadership that is too broad.

A college level paper should offer enough details and depth to receive an excellent grade. For instance, instead of overviewing a bunch of leadership styles, focus on how certain styles impede or facilitate teamwork. This will give you enough to talk about while limiting the scope of your essay.

Tip 3. Don’t confuse leadership with management! This is a common mistake that students make while writing leadership essays. Although the two concepts overlap, leadership is more about beliefs and vision, whereas managerial work is focused on specific tools and techniques.

Thus, a leader may or may not be a manager. To get more familiar with the subject of leadership, research various leadership styles, such as transformational, autocratic, and servant leadership.

Tip 4. Pay attention to the structure. In a great essay, ideas are always well-organized and follow one another in a logical sequence. First, write an introduction where you present your topic and thesis.

Then, write the main body, where you explain the key concepts and the relationships between them by reviewing relevant research evidence.

Lastly, write a conclusion summarizing your key points. A good leadership essay conclusion should also show how the information can be applied in practice.

Tip 5. Seek to answer any questions that readers might have. For your essay to show excellent depth, you need to address the points that might be interesting to readers in connection with your subject area.

For example, if you are reviewing a particular leadership style, you might want to discuss in which settings it would be useful and what are some of its limitations.

To make this part easier, you could search for leadership essay questions online to clarify what kind of answers readers expect you to cover.

Tip 6. Explain the importance and relevance of your paper. Because leadership is focused on effective strategies that can be applied in real life, you need to provide examples of how your essay may be used to support future practice and research.

Can leaders use the information you provided to improve their relationships with other employees? Can the proposed strategies influence performance?

Think about the potential uses of your research, as well as any gaps that are yet to be studied. Highlighting areas for future research will show your tutor that you are genuinely interested in the subject while also helping you plan for future essays.

We hope that these leadership essay tips will make it easier for you to write an outstanding paper! Make sure to check our website for sample essays on leadership!

🏆 Best Leadership Essay Examples

• Nelson Mandela Leadership Style Mandela’s fight for democracy and fulfilment of the majority will was also seen in his efforts to reconcile Libya with the rest of the world.
• Transformational Leadership Essay This requires the transformational leader to have the right communication skills to be able to relay the vision they have to a point of winning the willingness of the followers such that they too are […]
• Nigerian Poor Governance and Leadership In the paper under consideration, we will examine the concepts of the good governance and leadership, the problems concerning the implementation of these concepts in the Nigerian government; then we will investigate the history of […]
• Google Democratic Leadership Style – Compared to Amazon Applying behavioural leadership style theories in Bezos and Schmidt’s case reveals that the Amazon CEO is an autocratic leader while the Google CEO is a democratic leader.
• Foundation of Army Leadership Essay The Army leaders therefore, need to be swift, adaptive, and multi-skilled both in the country and across the world. This ensures obedience of the Army to the authority of the President and his authority from […]
• Democratic Leadership Style Self-Analysis Democratic leadership style is a participative and consensus-based approach to decision-making in which the leader encourages input from all members of the team and makes decisions that reflect the group’s best interests.
• Reed Hastings’ Leadership Style: Netflix CEO’s Strategy Since the work of a leader is crucial for the performance of the whole enterprise, it is essential to analyze the leadership style of a particular business leader through the perspective of his or her […]
• Teamwork and Leadership From diversity to team hierarchy, many factors influence the eventual output of the team, affecting the leader, team members’ performance, and client’s satisfaction.
• Mahatma Gandhi’s Leadership This report is an analysis of the behaviour and leadership style of Ghandi, the transactional and transformative aspects of his leadership and the way he used the power he had to help India gain Independence.
• Esther’s Leadership Qualities Essay The book of Ester narrates the story of a young Jewish woman who rose to the thrones of power but also reveals the life of the Jews under the Persian reign.
• Comparison of Leadership and Management In leadership, the leader uses his charisma and influence to elicit the help and support of the followers to achieve goals.
• Leadership in Organization Leadership is applicable in the nurturing and development of constructive behavior patterns and organizational culture. Charismatic leadership is appropriate for the development of followers.
• Bill Gates’s Leadership and Impact on Organization This problem grew out of the practice that was common in Microsoft to challenge the ideas of one another, doubt them, and put them to the test.
• Leadership Case Study This is mainly achieved through setting a pace in serving as a role model and creation of a working environment that allows members of the organization or employees to feel honored as part of the […]
• Leadership and Influence Focus on leaders’ and ignorance of followers, however, does not contribute to the development of efficient management environment because the influence and interaction stand at the core of the relationship.
• Comparison of Gandhi’s and Hitler’s Leadership The primary direction of Gandhi’s political and social work was the fight against the nationalist movement of the British rule of India.
• Leadership: Portfolio Project I will start by conducting a comprehensive analysis of my background in order to understand the factors that might have defined my leadership qualities in one way or the other.
• Gibb’s Reflective Cycle in Nursing Leadership To ensure all the processes run effectively in the organization, the leader must reflect on the various encounters to improve the aspect of decision-making and management.
• My Leadership Achievements and Services to Our Community As the project coordinator, I was charged with the duty of coming up with a strategy to liaising with the target group that is the community and the members who were to carry out the […]
• Frederick Douglass Leadership Personality Traits Report (Assessment) The book was so humorous that he feared that he would be enslaved again for the weaknesses that he portrayed in the American lifestyle and how he was able to trick them with the attire […]
• Autocratic Leadership Versus Participative Theory It will also critically analyse the effectiveness of both participative and autocratic leadership styles in an organisation to determine the most appropriate style to be adopted for the success of an organisation.
• Sergey Brin: Leadership Process and Organizations in Context In order to analyse the theory of successful leadership in practice, it is possible to evaluate the performance of Sergey Brin, one of the founders of the world-famous Google company that owns huge financial assets.
• Ursula Burns Leadership Style in Xerox Company By suggesting that color printing should be made more affordable, as well as reconsidering the company’s organizational behavior and putting a very strong emphasis on the relationships between the managers and the staff, Burns has […]
• Servant Leadership in Indian Culture and Hindu Religion The basis of this approach is the reorientation of the values of the leader, who considers the empowerment of followers as a means and goal of his activity.
• Starbuck Company Case: Howard Schultz Leadership Style Hence, he spends a lot of time with staff and guarantees that the company helps employees to grow both financially and intellectually.
• Meg Whitman – Leadership Style: What Do People Do When They Are Leading? This is due to the fact that it influences the extent to which employees are committed to attainment of the set organizational goals.
• School Leadership The multi-levelled pedagogic school leaders highly determine the mode of teaching students in schools and the effective application of the learning process.
• Individual Leadership Philosophy I have also developed new values that will continue to support my leadership objectives. I will also acquire new skills that have the potential to improve my leadership philosophy.
• Developing Leadership Skills Bearing in mind the fact that the leader is tasked with marshaling the organization’s resources to accomplish some organizational goal, it can be rightfully stated that part of the role of the leader is to […]
• Nursing: Leadership Development Plan I utilize the nursing process and evidence-based practice to work collaboratively with the core team, including the patient, staff members, primary care provider, registered nurse care manager, and patient support technician, and expanded team, including […]
• Vodafone Company’s Leadership and Management In fact, it is safe to argue that an organization’s major responsibilities are founded upon the complexities and issues arising from these environments in the sense that it must ensure that its culture and behavior […]
• Mercedes Company: Leadership and Management Essentials The idea behind theoretical investigation is to obtain enough background information on leadership styles, which might be applied to analysing the performance of Mercedes Benz in the light of the theory’s implications on the practice […]
• Participative Leadership: Strengths and Weakness The paper gives an overview of the approach, followed by the strengths and weakness of participative leadership. Organizational leadership, more so the approach of leadership is critical to the performance of an organization.
• Bad Leadership: Causes and Effects This can result in a loss of confidence on the part of employees and may cause them to feel resentment towards their leaders.
• Educational Leadership and Management Team leadership is “the ability to solve every problem affecting a given group”. I have understood why every educational leader should use the best leadership styles.
• Carlos Slim: Leadership Styles and Personality The case study of Carlos Slim’s personality shows a character of a leader who has high conscientiousness and openness to experience.
• Leadership and Management Practice The efficacy of a decision to either lead or manage will base on the closeness of how the insight of the knowledge, expertise and talent of persons trying to pursue the goal matches with the […]
• Ethical Leadership: Martin Luther King All individuals were expected to consider his actions and embrace the idea of morality. Through the use of a positive community culture and empowerment tactics, King managed to model such desirable behaviors.
• Foundations of Army Leadership BLC This paper examines the foundation of Army leadership, focusing on its levels and leaders’ characteristic features.
• Inside Bill Gates Leadership Journey of Building Microsoft Microsoft has succeeded in setting a fast pace in the computer software industry and in creating markets in the process. The program took over the market, and it topped the charts in Microsoft products.

🎓 Simple & Easy Leadership Essay Titles

• Leadership Style: Reflection and Analysis The concept of leadership is an essential part of the modern world due to the fact that it is one of the key determinants of successful management.
• Ho Ching’s Leadership at Temasek Holdings In addition to her past experiences, she has legitimate power in Temasek Holding that allows her to influence her followers with the help of company rules.
• Reflective Practice in Leadership This model has made me understand that I need to orient myself to the organisational culture and values cherished by my subordinates to enable me to have beneficial exchanges with my subordinates.
• Mark Zuckerberg’s Leadership Style Shareholders have complained about his leadership and failure to increase the stock price of Facebook, and others have claimed he is socially inept and too young and immature to be a CEO of a multi-billion […]
• “Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership” Book According to the authors, the aim of this topic is to create awareness for managers regarding the importance of relationships between the management and employees in fostering the success of a company, employee motivation, and […]
• Strategic Leadership Nevertheless, it is important that for these strategic plans to be implemented properly there is need to have strategic leadership in the organization in order to provide the much needed leadership.
• Charismatic Leadership The transformational leaders focus on changing the organizations or the leaders, while the charismatic leader has a focus on commitment and devotion both to the persona values as well as those of the group members […]
• Unilever Company’s Leadership and Corporate Governance The success of Unilever associated with the company’s commitment to leadership. First, the strategic leadership of Unilever is tied to the company’s long-term goals and objectives.
• General Leadership Style: Norman Schwarzkopf According to the Katz model of leadership, the leader with human skills can leverage the power of the group. When the young Schwarzkopf visited his father in different parts of the world, he had the […]
• Does Gender Affect Leadership? The number of women who are reaching top positions in the management of an organization is very less, though nowadays there is some change in this fact and so many women are holding top leadership […]
• Leadership Action Plan To begin with, I will join a toastmaster that can support my communicational and leadership goals. For instance, the decision to join a toastmaster will support most of my needs.
• Mohammed Al Abbar: Leadership Project As a result, in order to explore the leadership style, approach, and views of Mohammad Al Abbar, it is necessary to begin with his personal, as well and professional backgrounds as the sources of his […]
• The Leadership and Communication Style of Angela Ahrendts She is famous for her leadership and communication style that is characterized by energy, availability, belief in teamwork and the power of intuition.
• Mandela’s Leadership He used his power to better the lives of the public in South Africa and set an example of selfless leadership.
• The Art of Communication as the Language of Leadership Further, a list of activities to be done to achieve the desired outcomes and the resources required are set in place.
• Strategic Leadership and Organisational Transformation of Walmart In the first quarter of the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the company recorded a financial performance that exceeded the projections of analysts who had predicted poor performance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Howard Schultz’s Leadership Style: Strengths and Weaknesses These results are in a large part due to his leadership style which can be characterised as transformational, the strengths of which are openness to new ideas and creativity, and among the weaknesses can be […]
• Jeff Williams’ Leadership Style at Apple Inc. Through these adjustments, Jeff was in a position to model a unique setting that reassures and discerns the wants and desires of the customers.
• Situational Leadership Style According to the two experts, the major responsibility of any situational leader is to become accustomed to their individual leadership style and satisfy the followers’ needs.
• Ricardo Semler’s Leadership at Semco Partners The case of Ricardo Semler and Semco companies reflects typically on the transformational leadership from the traditional Brazilian company’s organisational leadership structure that involved pyramidal headship.
• Hatshepsut’s Leadership and Accomplishments She was the leader of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled with the help of the two-year old Thutmose III.
• Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide Company: Charlotte Beers’ Leadership The main objective that Beers tried to achieve was to create change to enable the company to regain its leadership position in the industry.
• Kofi Annan Leadership Traits In pursuit of idealistic leadership, Berlin articulates that leaders and organizations should be able to differentiate actions that could impede the achievement of the goals that are in the best interest of the majority.
• Leadership and Management In the analysis of leadership and management approach within the non-for-profit sector, success in management and leadership revolves around complex approaches to the management of human services.
• Leadership and Motivation: FedEx Corporation and UPS Inc. Introduction Leadership is the process of influencing people to contribute willingly to the goals and objectives of the organization. To solve this problem, the managers of FedEx used 360-degree feedback system to identify the causes […]
• “Organizational Culture and Leadership” by Schein, Edgar H. The book covers the subject of leadership and culture in three major sections, including the definition of organizational culture and leadership, the dimensions of culture, and leadership’s role in building culture.
• Angela Merkel’s Leadership Style This move shows that Merkel has the essential qualities of a transformative leader, including her ability to critically analyze a situation and motivate her followers in times of need.
• Nelson Mandela: Speeches and Leadership Nelson Mandela is, undoubtedly, one of the strongest and the most inspiring political leaders of the 20th century, the embodiment of the human spirit’s limitless possibilities.
• The Leadership of Mao Zedong For example, the Great Leap Forward policy resulted in a food crisis that led to the death of many Chinese people. Mao was assertive in the development and implementation of his policies.
• Leadership Styles: Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler The human qualities of a leader are in many ways more revealing regarding his or her success, the respect of the people, and the appreciation of descendants than education and professionalism.
• Brian Chesky’s Leadership at Airbnb As the chief executive officer and co-founder of Airbnb Company, Brian Chesky has proved to the world that he is a great leader who exhibits wonderful traits.
• Leadership Styles of Yahoo, Blackberry, and Google Using the identified characteristics of transactional and transformational leadership styles in the literature review, the paper attempts to specify the leadership styles that each of the three organizations deploys using the primary data from the […]
• The Benefits of Transformational Leadership This means that a transformational leader is willing and able to take into account the needs of their followers and their individual concerns.
• Ethical and Unethical Leadership in Healthcare On the contrary, unethical leadership disregards ethics and instead indulges in unacceptable moral practices that are contrary to the organization culture.
• Followership and Servant Leadership in the Military The soldiers in the military are dedicated to serving and executing the commands given by their supervisors. In the military, followership and servant leadership are crucial approaches for ensuring effective performance to achieve objectives.
• JC Penney & Ron Johnson: The Failed Leadership Following the failure of Ron Johnson’s vision and strategy, the new CEO, Ulman, faced the challenge of attempting to incorporate and revert to the strategy that had been in place before Ron Johnson’s tenure.
• Workplace Management Styles: Autocratic Leadership He may have been afraid of the fact that if he did not retain all the powers and authority, employees like Wilson would take the running of the restaurant.
• Biblical Leadership and Ministry For the church to be more effective in fulfilling the commands in God’s word the leaders should have a spirit that is sensitive and satisfied.
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Malcolm X’s Leadership Styles Thesis: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both charismatic leaders, but the latter was more of a transformational leader as well because of his idealistic views and his ability to inspire his followers to […]
• Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore’s Leadership Hal Moore’s courage to fight on despite the odds that had afflicted his men was the major driving factor that led to the victory of his group over the Vietnamese.

📌 Controversial Leadership Title Ideas

• Leadership Theories in the Automotive Industry At the same time, the changes in the industry and the economic environment of the recent years have led to the situation where the leaders of the field lost their definitive advantage and faced a […]
• Nature and Effectiveness of Steve Jobs Leadership His leadership style comprised of a mix of qualities and strategies that aimed at improving the operations and status of the organization in order to achieve the set goals and objectives of Apple Inc.
• Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility A fundamental theme of corporate governance is the nature and extent of responsibility and accountability of specific individuals in the corporation’s hierarchy, and mechanisms that attempt to eliminate or mitigate the problems that arise due […]
• Pros and Cons of the Four Major Styles of Leadership The trust that the leader gives to the followers raises their morale in the task and as a result, they exhibit a spirit of teamwork and cooperation.
• Transformational and Transactional Leadership With good leadership and the associated outcome both in the ancient and present age, man has increasingly sought to find ways of identifying the best style of leadership that suits the demands of the time.
• Personal Leadership Development Plan I will continue with such exercises to find answers to existential questions and achieve my personal and religious goals. I identify my managers and supervisors as the best people to offer professional counsel and advice.
• Organizational Culture & Leadership: Whirlpool Corporation At the heart of the discussion of management and leadership are the concepts of goal setting and results. Common to both managers and leaders is the focus on the results they produce, which are based […]
• The Essence of Leadership: Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey To understand the concept of leadership, the report evaluates the leadership qualities that the two leaders have developed. The reason behind the conflicts rests on the fact that the organisation, for instance, has no one […]
• The Role of the Leader and Their Characteristics Leaders are the strategists and the decision makers of an organization; they have the role of managing, controlling and enacting policies that lead an organization to its attainment of corporate goals and objectives.
• Leadership: Role, Benefits, and Limitations For example, the mayoral role in a town is leadership, whereby he takes the responsibility of guiding the people to support the laid down policies for the development of the town.
• Leadership in “12 Angry Men” In spite of the fact that Juror # 8 seems to be adaptable to the opinions of the other jurors, he is rather decisive in his following the line of the discussion which is developed […]
• Leadership in the hospitality industry His success in business has been attributed to the manner in which he attends to details such as research and collection of information, provision of clean and high quality products and services, and the logical […]
• GlaxoSmithKline’s Leadership Management Framework In light of this dissection, the author recommends the most effective leadership style to steer GSK to the next level and to enable it to handle previous management misjudgements. This will improve the image of […]
• Astro Airlines: Burton’s Leadership Style While the company had every chance to be transformed from a small-scale business into a large corporation, Burton did not use the opportunities that he had as the head of the company.
• Elon Musk’s Leadership Style and Accomplishments His business acumen is exemplified by his massive successes that he has achieved, mainly as the CEO of Space X and Tesla Motors, as well as other businesses, including Neuralink, the Boring Company, and Open […]
• Collaboration and Leadership in Healthcare The top management was able to make arrangements with the hospital administration and a willing dietician and we started to provide dietary consultations to each and every patient starting chemotherapy.
• Management vs. Leadership. What Leaders Really Do? Factually, a good leader as well as a good manager should have the similar qualities as far as a good leader-manager is in demand in many modern companies.
• The Concept of Laissez-Faire Leadership Style The manager does as little directing as possible and empowers employees. Employees must determine goals, make decisions, and solve problems themselves.
• Tesla’s Strategic Plan for Leadership in Energy Sector The purpose of this report is to analyze Tesla’s strategic plan of technological leadership in the energy segment to strengthen its competitive position.
• The Political Leadership Conception This is usually manifested through the power of attraction and seduction and manipulation of the people under the leadership authority. Competent and profound leaders should be in a position to manage the organization for which […]
• The Role of Leadership in Business and Its Advantages The skills model focuses on the affiliation between the skills and knowledge held by a leader, otherwise referred to as the specific capabilities, and the performance of the leader.
• Marriott International Leadership This paper aims to present the analysis of the prevalent leadership style typical of executives and directors in Marriott International; to discuss the connection between the leadership style and ethical practices; to determine possible ethical […]
• Organizational Leadership and Strategic Positioning for Shangri-la Hotels Shangri-La Hotels is classified among the strongest and iconic leaders in the luxury hotel space in Asia and it has been successful in other places in Europe and around the world.
• Leadership of Jerry Yang, Co-Founder of Yahoo The creation of Yahoo is the story of the hobby and knowledge of two Yang people who wanted to make the Internet more convenient.
• Nursing Leadership Skills Development The elements I intend to add to my leadership capabilities will enable me effectively develop my team and serve patients under my care in a better way.
• Napoleon: Leadership Style The extremely high level of fragmentation peculiar to Europe at that era and the absence of the single perspective on France and its growing power provided him with the time needed to create a powerful […]
• Leadership Role-Play Activity for Students In that regard, the activity will end with a discussion, in which the key points of the transformational style will be repeated.
• Democratic vs. Autocratic Leadership Styles Thus, one of the main advantages of the democratic model is that all individuals who are affected by a certain situation have an opportunity to outline their views and participate in decision-making.
• W. Buffett’s and F. Porsche’s Leadership Styles Finally, the third reason to call Ferdinand Porsche a bad leader is his ignorance of the social context. The businessman did not contribute to the development of the community or country but focused on his […]
• Consolidated Products Managers’ Leadership Styles The leader determines the focus of the work of the entire team, interacts with personnel, affects the psychological climate and other aspects of the work environment.
• Self-Awareness Importance in Effective Leadership Training specific skills is one of the conditions that influence the hardness of the character and the ability to realize the set goals.
• Orpheus Orchestra’s Leadership and Organizational Practices The orchestra satisfies the needs of every member. This permanent leadership encourages every member to be part of the orchestra.
• Hovey and Beard Company: Leadership and Management Therefore, the behavior of painters was shaped through the reinforcement theory and the job design criteria that was provided to them earlier. Before the changes were implemented, the painters were too slow in the process […]
• Style of Leadership in TESCO In order to maintain the desired level of performance, the company requires a well trained and knowledgeable workforce as well as an appropriate team of leadership that is capable of developing the qualities of all […]
• Instructional Leadership The instructional leadership model emphasizes on three critical role of school principal: defining the mission of the school; administering the instructional program, and supporting a positive learning culture.
• Leadership and Personality Traits of Hovard Schultz Schultz was able to look at the business from the client’s point of view and considered the client’s needs when expanding Starbucks across the globe.
• Leadership Qualities in Nursing Inspirational leaders inspire their patients at the bedside, encouraging them to struggle to survive and giving them hope. Inspirational leaders realize that mentoring is critical to success in nursing, so they educate others and encourage […]
• Nursing Leadership and Its Importance I learned that the leader is obliged to organize and adjust the activities of subordinates, motivate and inspire them, set clear goals for them, and represent the interests of their subsidiaries. As a result of […]
• Gender Equality in Higher Education: The Underrepresentation of Women in Educational Leadership A prime example of gender inequality is the underrepresentation of women in educational leadership, and this problem is going to be considered here in detail.
• How Communication Affects Leadership This study aims to examine the effects of communication on leadership for the purpose of determining if communication skill is a leadership quality as important as the ability to inspire and motivate followers and to […]

🥇 Good Leadership Topics to Write

• Democratic Leadership Styles and Patient Outcomes
• Leadership Legacy Issues
• A Revolutionary Model of Leadership
• Leadership – Ann Fudge
• Leadership and Governance
• Contemporary Issues in Management: Gender and Leadership
• Leadership Styles, Traits in a Nursing Professionals
• Leadership Theories: Mother Teresa
• United Parcel Services Leadership
• “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John Maxwell
• Effective Leadership: What It Means
• Leadership vs. Management in the Nursing Context
• Level 5 Leadership, Humility, and Will
• Leadership Values and Authenticity
• Advantages and Limitations of Online Leadership
• Scholarship, Practice and Leadership
• Leadership and Organisational Change
• The Concept of Leadership
• Dr. Maya Angelou and Her Leadership Abilities
• The Impact of School Governance on School Leadership
• Impact of Gender Difference on Leadership Styles
• Servant Leadership at St. Jude Children’s Hospital
• Transformational Leadership Theory: Pros and Cons
• A Leadership Development Plan’s Analysis
• Leadership in Turbulent Times: Key Takeaways
• American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and Its Leadership Culture
• Bedside Shift Reporting: Essentials of Nursing Leadership and Management
• The Leadership in Healthcare: The Intelligent Quotient and Technical Aspects
• Leadership and Diversity Discussion
• King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud’s Responsible Leadership and Ethics
• Leadership Personality & Achievement: TELMEX and Carlos Slim
• How Does Social Media Affect Leadership?
• Three-Skills Approach to Student Leadership
• Poor Leadership at J.C Penney
• Critical Examination of Strategic Leadership
• Relationship between Power and Leadership
• BMW Key Strategic Issues Analysis
• Leadership of the School Community
• Gender Differences in Leadership Styles
• Leadership Style of Managers
• Management and Leadership Paper
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Leadership Program
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Leadership Reflection
• Leadership Styles: Democratic and Collective
• Leadership in Diabetes Management
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Leadership Analysis
• Organizational Behavior: Teamwork and Leadership
• Comprehensive Leadership Approach
• The Impact of Leadership in Higher Education
• Mandela’s Leadership: Long Walk to Freedom
• Ineffective Leadership in a Workplace
• Leadership in the 21st Century
• Leadership in Quality Management
• Bernard Arnault’s Leadership
• Attitude Reflects Leadership: a Look at Leadership in your Professional Portfolio
• Machiavellian Leadership Style
• Self-Analysis on Democratic Leadership
• Delta Airlines Company’s Traditional and Digital Leadership
• Leadership Approaches in Healthcare
• Leadership for Happiness in Workplaces
• Personal Leadership Philosophy in Nursing
• Leadership in Lost TV Series
• Elon Musk: The Leadership Style
• Leadership Philosophy and Its Importance for Life
• Pacesetting as a Leadership Concept
• My Leadership Challenge: Personal Opinion
• The Art of Leadership
• Christian Leadership of John Calvin
• Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
• Leadership and Collaboration for a Student
• Mentoring and Coaching Experience
• Leadership of Climber Arlene Blum
• Personal Vision Statement in Organizational Leadership
• Leadership Concepts in the “Coach Carter” Film
• Adaptive Leadership by Glover, Friedman, Jones
• Transformational Leadership in Hotel Industry
• Thyressa Williams’ Leadership Interview
• Leadership in “The Hunger Game” Movie
• Thomas Hobbes and John Stuart Mill’ Views on Leadership
• Leadership Development: Experiences and Theories
• Mountain West Health Plans Company’s Leadership Styles
• Jack Welch’s Leadership Style
• Leadership Styles: A Critical Discussion
• Leadership Styles and Effects on IT Organizations
• Some Theories and Theorists on Leadership
• The Five-Star Hotels Operational Management
• Quality Management Systems
• Leadership and Management Definition
• A Personal Model of Leadership
• Leadership Evaluation: Sir Richard Branson
• Leadership and Motivation – Carlos Ghosn
• Justice and Leadership as Expressed by Plato and Ibn Khaldum
• Strategic Leadership at The New York Yankees Team
• Leadership Capacity Development Training
• Leadership, Trustworthiness, and Ethical Stewardship
• Zappos Organization’s Leadership and Objectives
• Gene C. McKinney: Biography and His Leadership
• Developing Shared Vision: Leadership
• Leadership Legacy: Definition and Goals
• Leadership – Integration Project
• Leadership Profile Analysis: Key Elements, Weaknesses, Strengths
• James D. Sinegal’s Leadership Analysis
• Mary Barra’s Leadership at General Motors
• The Leadership Skills of Leigh Anne Tuohy
• Explaining Leadership Positions and Responsibilities
• Full Range Leadership Development
• Leadership and Influence: Action Plan
• Abraham Lincoln’s Leadership Lessons
• Autocratic, Democratic, Free-Rein, Coaching Leadership
• Al Jaber Group: Fatima Al Jaber’ Leadership Style
• George Washington’s Leadership Style and Character
• Youth Leadership Development
• Chicago Bulls 1995-96 Championship: Team Leadership
• Leadership: Encouraging the Heart and Generosity
• Leadership in the “Invictus” Movie
• Sheikh Mohammed leadership
• General Electric’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership
• Complexity Theory Models of Leadership with Other Models of Leadership
• Reflection on Leadership and Sustainability: SKK Inc
• Charismatic vs. Inspirational Leadership
• Leadership Style of Bill Clinton: What Can We Learn?
• Difference between Leadership and Management
• Motivation and Leadership Theories
• Educational Leadership in School
• The Importance of Strategic Leadership in the Global Business Environment
• Team Leadership: Essential Features & Problems
• Leadership: Definition and Values
• Warren Buffet’s vs. Bernard Madoff’s Leadership Styles
• How Contemporary Leadership Styles Are Relevant in Today’s Military
• Leadership Commitment Statement on Prevention of Workplace Violence
• Transparency: The Role in Leadership
• My Involvement as a Leader, Leadership Coach, and Development Instructor
• Personal Leadership Philosophy in the Sports Industry
• Developing Leadership Skills in Nursing: A Proposal
• Authentic Leadership Style in Business
• Leadership and Personal Characteristics of a Leader
• Leadership and Organizational Psychology of Vince Lombardi
• The Leadership Challenge Overview
• Nursing: Personality Types and Leadership Qualities
• Leadership Challenges Bedeviling Satera Team
• Nursing Leadership and Personal Skills
• Leadership Skills and Leadership Development Plan
• Emirates Airline HR Department: Leadership and Its Effect
• Leadership and Migrants in Malaysia: Hypothetical Design
• Leadership Perspectives and Their Characteristics
• The Concept of Leadership: Machiavelli’s “The Prince”
• Personal Philosophy of Military Leadership
• The Life and Leadership Styles of Sir Edmund Hillary
• Leadership Influence Processes: Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Presidents
• Etihad Airways: Leadership Attitudes
• Creativity in Leadership
• Leadership. Critical Incident in a Non-Profit
• Leadership Style and Employee Motivation: Burj Al Arab Hotel
• Leadership in Teams: Experience and Reflection
• Lao-Tzu’s and Confucius’ Ideas on Leadership
• Starbucks Coffee Company’s Leadership Interview
• Leadership and Total Quality Management
• Leadership Styles and Their Results
• Leadership Practices Assessment
• Personal Leadership Action Plan
• Profile in Ethical Leadership: Bernard Madoff
• “Leadership For Leaders” by Michael Williams
• Charlotte Beers’ Leadership at Ogilvy & Mather Agency
• Leadership: Johari Window and Transactional Analyses
• Elizabeth Bloomer Ford’s Leadership Development
• Coaching and Mentoring in Executive Leadership
• Ethics in School Leadership
• Leadership Input to the Community Development
• Women’s Features in Administrative Leadership
• The Challenges of Leadership Practice in the 21st Century
• Personality and Leadership Style Relationship
• Stephen Hawking: Visionary and Cross-Cultural Leadership
• The Nickelodeon Company: Transformative Leadership
• Classic Drucker: Articles on Management and Leadership
• Global Leadership Development
• Leadership: Providing Purpose, Motivation and Inspiration
• Leadership and Performance in the Workplace
• Leadership: Types, Approaches and Strategies
• Leadership Approach in “The Devil Wears Prada”
• Organizational Behaviour and Leadership
• Entrepreneurial Leadership: Five Guys
• A Plan for Effective School Leadership
• The Application of Transformational Leadership in the UAE
• Leadership is Action and Not Position
• How Emotional Intelligence Influences Leadership
• Leadership Styles in the UK, USA, and Japan
• The Charismatic Leadership of Steve Jobs at Apple
• Contingency Theory of Leadership
• The Behavioral Approach of Studying Leadership
• The Leadership of Amazon
• Leadership in Multinational companies
• Mohandus Gandhi’s leadership
• The Significance of Strong Leadership in Business Organization
• Jamie Oliver and Leadership in the Food Industry
• James Madison’s Leadership Qualities
• Experience with Negative Leadership
• Leadership Management in the Hospitality Industry
• Transformational Leadership and Service Quality in UAE Hospitals
• Management and Leadership in Case of General Motors Company
• Situational Leadership Theory & Path-Goal Leadership Theory
• Bill Gates’ Positive Leadership Behavior
• Chapter 6 of Northouse’s Leadership: Theory and Practice
• Daniel Roth’s and Sam Hazen’s Personal Values in Leadership
• The Foundation of Army Leadership and Its Factors
• Holistic View of the Management and Leadership
• Personal Leadership Style Analysis
• Constructive Criticism in Leadership
• Servant Leadership in the Old Testament
• Servitude in Servant Leadership and The Scriptures
• Personal Leadership Profile: Communication Strategies
• Personal Career Experience: Leadership
• Business Ethics in Leadership & Management Development
• Organizational Culture and Leadership
• Ethical Leadership and Ethical Lens Invention
• Personality Type & Leadership Qualities
• Leadership Approaches in Prison
• Personal Experience of Ineffective Leadership
• The Model of Primary Leadership Skills
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Essay on leadership: meaning, nature and importance of leadership.

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Essay on Leadership: Meaning, Nature and Importance of Leadership!

“Leadership is the quality of behavior of individuals whereby they guide people or their activities in organising efforts” — Chester I. Barnard

“Leadership is the ability of a superior to induce subordinates to work with confidence and I zeal” — Koontz and ‘Donnell

“Leadership is the process by which an executive imaginatively directs, guides and influences the work of others in attaining specified goals.” — Theo Haimann

Leadership may be defined as a position of power held by an individual in a group, which provides him with an opportunity to exercise interpersonal influence on the group members for miobilising and directing their efforts towards certain goals. The leader is at the centre of group’s power structure, keeps the group together, infuses life into it, moves it towards its goals and maintains its momentum.

He may emerge in a group by virtue of his personality characteristics and qualities or by virtue of common consent by group members. In the latter case, the leader derives his power from the group members. He continues in the leadership position at the pleasure of group members collectively. Leadership position exists in most group settings irrespective of the size of the group.

For example, a leader of national or international standing commands widespread influence over a large number of people while the influence of the leader of a small work group in an organisation is very limited. Both are leaders in their own right and fulfill our definition of leadership.

Leadership is an influential process. The leader is in a position to shape, regulate, control and change the attitudes, behaviour and performance of his group members. The latter are supposed to comply with the former’s desires and directives and partially suspend their own judgment and discretion. There exists a particular relationship between the leader and his group members which is characterised by interpersonal and social interaction.

In a group, the leader and his followers play the roles expected of them and thereby seek to justify their respective positions. Some leaders may be able to play their role effectively whereby they succeed in getting the willing cooperation and commitment of their followers, beyond the normal call of duty.

In any group situation, the leader has a few bases of power by virtue of which he is in a position to influence the behaviour of group members. They are:

(i) Knowledge, information and experience

(ii) Resources for dispensing favours, rewards and penalties

(iii) Formal authority

(iv) Charisma

(v) Distinct personality characteristics like for example, will to dominate, ability to establish rapport, skill to communicate, identity with and understanding of people, decisiveness and soon.

Skillful use of these power bases by a leader is likely to bring success to him; and success in some cases adds to the power of the leader. A successful leader gains more credibility in the eyes of people; they often tend to ignore other deficiencies in him; they resolve to adhere to him and allow themselves to be further exposed to his influence attempts.

In this way some leaders entrench themselves in their positions. Some even misuse their power and often get away with it. Power carries with it an equal amount of responsibility. Leaders who relate their power with responsibility in a consistent manner are more successful in their influence than otherwise.

Importance of Leadership:

The following points highlight the importance of leadership:

(i) Effective direction:

An organisation comes into existence with certain objectives. To attain the objectives, the activities of the organisation must be directed. Direction of the activities is effected through leadership. In short, effective leadership directs the activities of an organisation towards the attainment of the specified organisational goals.

(ii) Source of motivation:

Leadership is the motivating power to group efforts. Effective leadership motivates the subordinates for higher productivity.

(iii) Confidence:

Leadership creates confidence in-the subordinates by giving proper guidance and advice.

(iv) High morale:

Good leadership increases the morale of the employees which, in turn, contributes to higher productivity.

(v) Development of team spirit:

Effective leadership promotes team-spirit and team­work which is quite essential for the success of any organisation.

(vi) Encouraging initiative:

A progressive, forward and democratic minded leader, always encourages initiative on the part of the followers.

(vii) Overcoming resistance to change:

A leader overcomes resistance, if any on the part of followers to organisational changes; through explaining to them the utility of such changes to both—the enterprise and the employees.

Related Articles:

• Leadership: Meaning and Patterns | Society
• Successful Leadership VS Effective Leadership (With Diagram)

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Leadership — What Does Leadership Mean to You: Listen, Ask & Conducting Assessment

What Does Leadership Mean to You: Listen, Ask & Conducting Assessment

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Published: Sep 2, 2021

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Introduction, define leadership in your own words.

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6 Common Leadership Styles — and How to Decide Which to Use When

• Rebecca Knight

Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances call for different approaches.

Research suggests that the most effective leaders adapt their style to different circumstances — be it a change in setting, a shift in organizational dynamics, or a turn in the business cycle. But what if you feel like you’re not equipped to take on a new and different leadership style — let alone more than one? In this article, the author outlines the six leadership styles Daniel Goleman first introduced in his 2000 HBR article, “Leadership That Gets Results,” and explains when to use each one. The good news is that personality is not destiny. Even if you’re naturally introverted or you tend to be driven by data and analysis rather than emotion, you can still learn how to adapt different leadership styles to organize, motivate, and direct your team.

Much has been written about common leadership styles and how to identify the right style for you, whether it’s transactional or transformational, bureaucratic or laissez-faire. But according to Daniel Goleman, a psychologist best known for his work on emotional intelligence, “Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances may call for different approaches.”

• RK Rebecca Knight is a journalist who writes about all things related to the changing nature of careers and the workplace. Her essays and reported stories have been featured in The Boston Globe, Business Insider, The New York Times, BBC, and The Christian Science Monitor. She was shortlisted as a Reuters Institute Fellow at Oxford University in 2023. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade as an editor and reporter at the Financial Times in New York, London, and Boston.

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