Leadership myths
How many of the following statements do you agree with?
- Leadership is a special type of person
- It’s described by a list of character traits and skills
- It only comes from those in leadership roles
- You either have it or you don’t
- Leaders always know the answer and never make mistakes
If you agreed with any of the above, we are delighted to tell you that we wholeheartedly disagree. Because if these statements were true, the world would be a very dark place.
It’s true that when you ask most people what leadership means to them, they will end up with a long list of personality traits: strong yet empathetic, pragmatic yet creative, flexible yet uncompromising. They’ll often suggest that this person is infallible: that they always have the answer and never make mistakes.
How can any individual possibly embody all these qualities? How can a person never get it wrong?
The answer is they can't. Because that’s not what it means to be human. And it’s not what it means to be a leader.
It’s time to reimagine leadership.
Changing the narrative
At Impact, we reframe leadership as a type of action. This action emerges in the moment and responds to the need for a change. It doesn’t matter who or where this action comes from; what matters is that it serves other people and moves the situation forward.
Leadership action comes in many forms. It could be...
- Helping a group make sense of something by connecting it to strategy or broader goals
- Pausing activity for a while to see what’s going on
- Asking someone, “what do you think?”
If we want to solve the problems we face – from everyday workplace issues to seemingly insurmountable global challenges – we need more of this, emerging from anywhere and anyone.
And the good news is that a person’s capacity for leadership action is just that: a capacity. It’s something that can be developed through experimentation, learning, practice, and building enabling capabilities. This is why we say that leaders are not born, they are made.
So how does someone get good at taking leadership action? That’s where our leadership model comes in: notice, decide, act.