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Leadership is critical, all the great achievers in the world have been great leaders.

Leadership, is just not about managing, it is about sharing the vision, defining the strategy, leading the way forward.

The problem with many companies and organisations today, is that many of the managers are not good leaders. Most senior management of companies don't want natural leaders, these people are a threat to them and must be sidelined, or moved out of the business.

Despite this some natural leader will go it alone, or find ways to get to the top. Look at all the great and largest companies, they all started out the same way. How did they get to where they are today, usually through great leadership, someone in the company understanding the strategy, but being able to communicate this vision to others and infecting them with the same level of enthusiasm of purpose.

Why is it that on a battlefield, a place of proof of Darwin's theories, units are able to achieve their targets, or fight off overwhelming odds to win, or just survive. It is leadership (as well as a modicum of fear), that makes the men and women win.

I have worked for many managers in my life and many leaders, some of them have been wonderfully gifted and have known what the right thing to do and when, others have taken the companies down the wrong path to ruin and people have followed. Why?

It all boils down to a very hard to define ability of leadership, when people have the foresight to see where they want to go, understand how to get there, have been able to convince others to accept their vision and follow it.

Leadership can be a mixture of charisma, showmanship, dogged determination, and the inability to perceive the negative, but it is more than that, it is an excellent understanding of what the purpose is, where are we going and how are we getting there.

Corporate Vision and Mission statements are leadership plans, they try to communicate where they are going, how they will get there and what the pay off is at the end.

These are statements put forth by people, who don't have the charisma, or presence of natural leaders, but by managers, who hope that the words make up for their leadership ability.

Natural leaders also put the well being of their staff ahead of themselves, because they know that if they are to achieve anything they will need the support of the people who follow them to achieve their purpose.

Learn more about this author, Robert Mcmartin.
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