What Leadership is not:

Leadership does not come with a title or the letters of credentials after your name. It does not matter what position you hold when it comes to the question whether people will follow you. What does matter is your ability to directly influence other to follow your vision. But it must be earned.

Leadership is also not necessarily conferred upon someone just because they have blazed a trail like many entrepreneurs have done. That entrepreneur may get the project off the ground but often they must team up with someone who is good with leading people to bring the project to fulfillment.

Sometimes, people assume that because someone has "more degrees than a thermometer," they must have the education to be a leader. In most cases, the leaders are ones who will enlist the help of the technical experts and PhDs to influence the people in their organization while supporting their vision.

What Leadership is:

If you watch people interact in any kind of impromptu meeting where some leadership and order is necessary, you will find that some people will rise to the occasion while others are content to follow. What inner traits do these people possess?

A leader has more depth and breadth of character than a non-leader. You can see this in their eyes, how they carry themselves and in their confident communication. This confidence has come from having experienced the successes and challenges of past endeavors. They have had more successes than failures and give their followers confidence that they can help them be successful too.

In their experiences of life and business, they have connected with people at a deep and real level thereby developed relationships that last a lifetime. They have learned many lessons along the way and have not been afraid to fail along the way. But they always get back up and learn from their mistakes. They have proven that they are not ever going to quit, no matter what happens.

Along this path to becoming a leader, they have also striven to gain the knowledge of their business. At the same time, they utilize the experts to build synergy in their team. With their knowledge firmly established, they also now apply their intuitive skills to see into the intangible components of their followers. They can sense when morale needs to be uplifted, or when shifts in the group energy need to be adjusted. They can intuitively create the circumstances in their organization to create momentum for everyone’s benefit.

Success leads to more success and a seasoned leader has proven himself to others. He has proven that he is capable of leading a winning team. Most people want to be on the winning team, and will naturally allow themselves to be influenced by a proven leader.

So if you want to become a stronger leader, practice leading whenever you can.Maybe you volunteer to do that extra project at work. If you are building a business, build your character and see if you can influence others to follow you. One place to practice this is with some type of volunteer organization, such as a nonprofit organization, your school committee, or your homeowner’s association. Have fun with learning leadership and realize that what you learn will go with you the rest of your life into whatever roles of leadership you choose.