Leadership, the definition

A few weeks ago a friend of mine telephoned me and asked, “Shawn I know that you are really busy, but could you please help me out for a few minutes? I have this assignment on leadership and I was wondering if you could take a look at it for me?”

I assured her that I would, following is the answer to the question that was asked in her paper.

I was asked to briefly “Define” Leadership. I wanted to share this with you as well, so here is the definition of Leadership

Although leadership is often associated with a position or title, the reality is that leadership has nothing whatsoever to do with either. A true and effective leader is an individual that can motivate, usually a team, to the successful achievement of a predetermined goal or objective. Two extremely important things for a leader to keep forefront at all times: Why does your team follow, because they have to or because they want to? Effective and successful leaders will say “let’s do this” rather than “do this.” Remember, you can lead from the middle!

Throughout my lifetime I have been fortunate enough to have several highly successful and effective leaders that I spent time with and learned from. I believe that this is likely the case with most of us, we learn from everyone that we come into contact with. We must make constant and conscious decisions as to whether or not the traits and idealism's of those we meet are to become part of our fabric.

It’s been said that “dissatisfaction is one of the best motivators” although this is true, I believe that the very best and most effective motivator is your achievements and successes.

If you want to be a great leader, find someone that you respect and that is a successful leader and learn from them. Don’t copy, but defiantly emulate and adapt.


Shawn Shewchuk is a sought after speaker, coach and consultant and the author of the soon to be released book, Change Your Mind, Change Your Results.