It seems to me that with every passing day, more and more companies are eager to explore this mysterious “L” word, this new corporate mantra, Leadership.Workshops, seminars, classes, training materials, even yoga classes are being organized by several top corporations in pursuit of a seemingly simple objective:  how do we transform a mere manager to a leader of men and women?  The marketplace has responded admirably to keep up with this huge demand:  visit a neighbourhood store or the Amazon site, with Leadership as a keyword, and the plethora of choices you are presented will boggle your mind.  Books from Sun-Tzu as well as Harvard Business School professors will vie for your attention as well as your wallet.  Ivy League institutions such as Oxford and Wharton are not immune – they offer special courses on ‘Business Leadership’ and ‘Transformational Leadership’.  Domestic entrepreneurs and newspapers are not far behind – workshops and articles on leadership have become commonplace.

So what exactly is this buzz all about? 

Let us start by understanding the term, leadership.  One definition is “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members.” (R. J. House, 2004).   It reflects individual experience, values and capabilities, in situations where there may not be an “ideal” solution.  We may assume then that effective leadership must include the intellect, temperament, core values, energy and courage of the individual leader.

The most important questions that need to be asked are: can these things be taught?  Learned?

If leadership is, quite simply, the ability to inspire others, then it must be hard if not impossible to teach.  Even famous graduate degree programs are reluctant to offer panaceas of complete leadership development in their glossy brochures.  They use words such as “elevate”, “take to the next level”, “build on” and “become more effective”.  There is a presumption that the enrolled student has some amount of ‘leadership’ already.

But does this mean that an uninspiring manager is forever doomed to dream about being a leader?  Not at all.  It is sometimes said that a leader is captain, coach and cheerleader all rolled into one.  Each of these roles has clearly defined activities that can be learned.  Effective training can make anyone with adequate interest more effective in each of the above roles.  We lead more by example than by anything else.  Trying to learn and improve, trying to be more effective – these can make a big impact in the minds of our team members.  Credibility and trust are gained the old-fashioned way, the hard way – by trying hard to improve ourselves.  And which leader can claim to be one, without the above two qualities?

Best wishes!!

Ravi Bhuthapuri

November 29, 2006