Definition of Leadership
Leadership is the position or office of a leader and the capacity or ability to lead. Leadership can be leading people, either directly or indirectly. Leadership can be leading things, processes, procedures, meetings, events, etc.
Why is Leadership Such a Hot Topic on LinkedIn?
In follow up to my original article What is Leadership and Why is it Such a Hot Topic on LinkedIn?, I proposed 5 reasons that this could be:
- A lot of people what to become leaders – it is the natural career trajectory for many.
- Leaders are always in the spotlight and therefore the topic is.
- People crave great leadership and aren’t finding enough of it.
- Leadership development is a continuous and difficult process – so it’s always top of mind.
- Leadership is a top skill that most people want to develop.
There was too much in this short list to unpack in one article, hence this follow up article to explore these reasons more. I’ll start with # 1 – It’s really two parts – First, it could be that many people want to become leaders. Second, is a fact – Leadership is the “common” or “natural” way we think about career trajectories.
# 1 – Part 1 – There may be more people that desire leadership positions than there are positions available for them to fill. I tried to find some actual numbers on this, but as you may have guessed – I get bombarded with content that doesn’t answer that question. If you know the answer or find a legitimate resource with the answers – Please share it in the comments. If I find it later – I’ll update this article. In thinking about organizational structures, this has got to be part of the problem. When the ratio of employees/member to people managers is 1:10 – unless the workforce grows and has that ratio of influx of new employees, there will never be enough leadership roles for everyone (my opinion/guess, if you disagree, please explain in the comments). If this is true, then we may have a lot of people who want to be leaders, but there just aren’t enough opportunities for them to all get there.
# 1 – Part 2 – Leadership is the natural career trajectory for many. It just makes sense – You learn a career, you master it, then you lead others to do what you did so well. If my proposed thoughts about # 1 – Part 1 are correct, this causes a serious problem for # 1 – Part 2 – Meaning, not everyone will be able to attain this career level. Another glaring issue with this commonality is that not everyone wants to or would be amazing leaders. I believe anyone can learn to be a great leader, we all lead in some capacity or another, but it is a completely different job, and completely different career. Not everyone will enjoy the difference in the type of work and responsibilities. Leadership can be a heavy job and if you don’t love it, it can become a recipe for career dissatisfaction and burnout. If leadership is not available for everyone and not a good fit for everyone, I believe we need to radically change the way we think about career trajectories!
# 2 – Leaders are always in the spotlight, and therefore the topic is. We all look to leaders for guidance, they set the tone for everything. We look to them as role models. We sometimes idolize them (more than we should, they are just people like the rest of us). In idolizing leaders, we sometimes think of them as superheroes, infallible, can never get hurt, does everything right, can do no wrong. Which is often the cause of us being so shocked when they make a mistake. What’s truly heroic is when a leader makes a mistake and admits their fault and apologizes. Since leaders are always in the spotlight, we are always looking to them, we are always listening to them. We appreciate the leaders who use their power for good! They have our listening ear and use that to lift others.
# 3 – People crave great leadership, and they aren’t finding enough of it. I think one of the reasons we are always talking about leadership is, it is often a problem. Too many leaders are misusing their power, or not using their power properly. This is often caused by the lack of investment in leadership training and development. We too often think that if someone was a great individual contributor, they will automatically be a great manager. That’s not true unless they have had training and education around leadership. Even then, they need additional training and support to become better. I think it’s good to talk about this and make these facts more commonly known so we can ensure leaders all have proper training and support. Misuse of power is another topic we’ll explore in another article.
# 4 – Leadership development is a continuous and difficult process – so it’s always top of mind. Developing great leaders is an ongoing process. All leaders go through different situations and things in their leadership careers that they may not have encountered in their prior roles. If they don’t get the support and mentorship they need, it could be a disaster for any organization. Companies that have strong leadership development investments and commitments, have happier employees throughout their organizations because leaders set the tone for everyone reporting up to them. This should be top of mind, always. Develop great leaders, and they help develop more leaders.
# 5 – Leadership is a top skill that most people want to develop. I’m honestly so glad that we talk about leadership so often on LinkedIn and other platforms because it’s so important. It is an important skill for everyone to continuously develop. Even if they don’t make it to a position with direct reports. We are all leading in one way or another in our lives, personal and professional. We should always take their responsibility seriously and always do and be our best for our people.
Closing
I love learning about leadership, I love leading others and helping them become the best they can be. I hope this article has inspired you to also learn all you can about leadership so you can be the best leader in your life. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you may have noticed that I love quotes that make me think. Here’s some great one about leadership and the topic explored in this article.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
—Jack Welch
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
—John C. Maxwell
“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily, even if you had no title or position.”
—Brian Tracy
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