Spirit of Leadership

CHAPTER TWO What Is a True Leader? Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by a passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose. P eter F. Drucker, one of our generation’s foremost thinkers and authorities on the subject of lead ership and management, stated, “There may be ‘born leaders,’ but there are surely far too few to depend on them. Leadership must be learned and can be learned....‘leadership personality,’ ‘leadership style,’ and ‘leadership traits’ do not exist.” 3 What makes a leader a leader? How do you identify leadership when it is present? In this chapter, we will explore various definitions of leadership and compare them with a definition of leadership that I have developed through years of observation and research. The examples of leaders that follow help demonstrate the fact that true leadership is an attitude rather than a title and that it inspires rather than manipulates or controls. LEADERSHIP IS MORE THAN INFLUENCE A popular definition of leadership is that “leader ship is influence.” In spite of the fact the leadership does

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