What people think leadership is vs what leadership actually is

There are so many version of “leadership” definitions floating around. A lot of them are really problematic. 

As I’ve been re-engaging with Heifetz ‘Leadership without Easy Answers’ - I’m realizing how orienting his distinctions have been for me and my work. And the same is true for many of our clients. 

Here are the TOP 10 confusions about leadership:

People often think, or assume leadership is:

• something you're born with

• charisma

• influence

• power

• serving

• heroic

• a position or title 

• solving and fixing

• creates followership and buy-in

• having a vision

• getting people where you want them to go 

• is glamorous 

What leadership actually is…

• something that can be learned and developed

• comes in many forms

• means mobilizing others to confront difficult challenges

• disappointing people at a rate they can handle

• building new capacities

• a team effort

• a practice, a verb

• making progress

• possible from many positions of authority

• asking difficult questions 

• supporting learning

• is difficult 

We are excited to hear your reflections!