At the beginning of the 20th century the typical boss liked to see fear on the faces of their employees - management through power, but nowadays the concept of leadership is growing and as one of my previous articles (Article Number 3: Motivating Staff) mentioned, motivation increases the productivity of your employees and I believe that to have your staff motivated you need to have good leaders.

But what is leadership? I'm sure you have your own opinion, and I'm also sure this differs from other business talkers. According to Cheri Swales in here article at Monster.com good leaders must both project and inspire their employees to see their vision of the organisation in this article she explains that "vision is a clear mental picture of your organisation when it has achieved its mission, and many times your mission evolves along the way. Leaders must live and breathe this vision and embody change in order to bring the entire organisation along with them."

Now this sound great, but I know what you're thinking because even senior executives recognise they have limited impact on their organisation. So you must put this into perspective and think of your own sphere of influence and how your sphere can affect the overall mission of your organisation.

For those at an early stage of their management career, one step towards being a good leader is making the right career choices. To begin with you must be in the right place. You must seek positions and projects that suit your strengths and where your weaknesses are not a serious drawback, because credibility is necessary if you want to be a good leader.

However, this doesn't mean you should sit back in easy to handle situations, you must also seek challenging assignments that develop your expertise and network of professional relationships increasing both your credibility and your sphere of influence.

Also consider that leadership is not for everyone, before going on this quest ask yourself the following questions:

Do you like teamwork?
Do you tend to lead groups you work in?
Have you ever volunteered to coach or tutor others?
Do you thrive on difficult and ambitious problems?
Can you cope with stress?

So, do you have what it takes to be a leader?

 

boss - jefe
fear- miedo
nowadays - hoy en día
leadership - liderazgo
staff - empleados
inspire - inspirar
mental picture - visión mental
evolves - evoluciona
along the way - con el tiempo
embody - personificar
entire organisation - toda la organización
sphere of influence - círculo de influencia
overall mission - misión global
career choices - elecciones de carrera profesional
seek - buscar, perseguir
positions - puesto
suit - encaje, favorezca
strengths - fortalezas
weaknesses - debilidades
drawback - inconviniente
handle - manejar
challenging - desafiante
assignment - cometido
network of professional relationships - círculo de relaciones laborales
quest - búsqueda
teamwork - trabajo en equipo
coach - entrenar, formar
thrive - motiva
cope - hacer frente
what it takes - lo que se necesita