We’re so accustomed to ever-present change and the need to lead ourselves and others through challenging times, we’re inclined to think leadership itself is a changing field. I am anyway, or I was.
Actually, of course, it’s really the one constant…
I mean leadership in the sense of contributing something to help shape the future, or more literally, “stepping ahead.”
The nature of leading is a timeless quality, resting partly on skill, partly on personal presence, and partly on inner belief and sense of purpose, and more besides—an art much more than a science, and so somewhat elusive.
Our individual knowledge of leadership, of course, changes as we learn and grow.
And yet the nature of leadership probably stays the same, and so a very worthwhile investment.
Sometimes people talk about different styles of leadership. I’m not so sure. I believe all of these styles (or most of them) are part of the range of the best leaders—the ones with the most flexibility. Ultimately leadership encompasses them all.