Leadership 101.5

In the world Cafe style of shared learning we sit around tables with cuppuccinos and lattes.
Some sit with their apple/-juice and we talk. We talk about talk.  (Have you noticed how many times we tend to do that?)

Whenever there is talk about leadership some of the following questions and concepts are always part of the conversation: How does a person become a leader? Can leadership be learned?
Are we all leaders? Do you need a title (to lead)? What IS leadership again??

You can Google a 1000 definitions of leadership and we will still be talking and asking the same questions. This is because leadership is not static.It has many faces and facets. It can be personal, individualistic, dictatorial, corporate, collective, strategic, operational, + + +
-At is best leadership is situational and contextual.

One of the first definitions about leadership that I was exposed to, was the one by J.Oswald Sanders: "Leadership is influence." It still speaks to leadership on many levels.

The ancient Greeks used the word "strategos", or strategist and the Romans had the Latin concept of "imperator" to describe a military strategist. This later became "Emperor" or Ruler, wich is not what we generally have in mind when we talk about leadership these days.

The world is in need of effective leadership. Countries like China tries everything to lure talented people to the different levels of their leadership needs. "We can compensate for the absence of many skills and resources, but we struggle to overcome the absence of effective leadership".
-George Barna.

How much of this effective leadership lies in leadership skills? -The ability to think strategically,
to see a different future and to work at realizing it.  How much of it lies in Emotional-, Spiritual-, Moral- and Social Intelligence? How much in character?

To paraphrase the former US Forces Commander and Chief, Norman Schwarzkopf: -Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. -If you have to leave one: Leave strategy.!