Following on from my post about What Google AutoCorrect can tell us about learning, I thought I’d turn the almighty search engine onto the subject of leadership. Seen by some as faddish, nevertheless the idea of leadership - if not the word itself - is one of responsibility and integrity - and who doesn’t want those two character traits? Let’s see what the world thinks of leadership.
A simple question - what is leadership? Clearly, leadership is too broad and varied a topic, as the results show - do you want to talk about transformational, situational, autocratic, to name just a few? And yet - still many don’t know what these different types of leaderships are. Has leadership become too complicated? This looks like a ready-made series for TrainingZone. Point three is interesting - What is the difference between leadership and management? Is it a question of context or simply semantics? Certainly the way that leadership is framed in modern business is something that the individual can and should exhibit and embrace, whereas management appears to be mostly role-specific.
Next up - what leadership… As the frequency of the word ‘leadership’ increases, more people want to get to the root of what it might mean for them. We are told there are different types of leaders, so which one am I? Perhaps if I understand my own style of leadership I will be able to fill in the gaps and become the complete leader. Perhaps I complement your leadership style - if you you know what it means to you? Let’s not comment on the 5th result after this week’s news. It’s probably for the best.
What do leaders do? Ok, but what do they really do? No no no, what do they really do in an organisation? Scepticism abound by internet users of the world. Although result four looks like some people may have softened their stance a little. It’s lonely up there on that metaphorical pedestal.
More discrepancy around definitions here. When did you become a leader? Did it happen overnight or was it a lifetime’s accrual of the right skills, and something that still continues to this day? It should do - every leader is a follower of someone, or something. Someone explain the 5th result to me please…
…suddenly appear, every time, you are near? Unsurprisingly, most of the results for ‘why do leaders…’ are negative. So many leaders at a local, national and international level across both the private and public sector have systematically destroyed their own integrity over the last half-decade. The upside to the chaos of the last few years is that analysis of good leadership has been deconstructed and co-opted to the hilt, so finding yourself a good set of leadership values is easier than ever.
