The ability to be an effective leader will be determined by your level of influence. Do you have the ability to influence people enough to move in the direction your moving? In the corporate culture, managers, executives and CEO's are considered leaders. Are they really? As a leader, you have to be able to connect with your people in a non-dictatorial way. That style of leadership isn't as effective as it once was. People in today's society value relationships, they value growth and interdependence. Generation X and Y are generations of young men and women who value such things as personal growth, relationships, and financial independence. Leaders today have to be able to adapt to these two generations of people in a manner that appeals to the values that these two generations hold.
Gaining influence takes time. People have to trust that the leader will do what's best for the organization and not themselves. Once a leader is sought to have made a decision based on personal gain alone, that leader will quickly lose his or her influence. Once the influence is lost the followers have no direction and are prone to go in the same direction as the organization is, down! They say behind every good man is a good women, well behind every good organization is a good leader. A good leader has the ability to have such a strong influence that it outweighs the followers resistance. Not in a sense of getting them to do what they don't want to but encourage them to move forward with a certain task or project despite the challenges they are faced with.
Leadership isn't a title or a position. It's who we are. Everyone has the potential to become a leader. The challenges comes in when we have to make a decision to step out of our comfort zone in order to grow and reach new heights of effectiveness.
