There are plenty of myths about what leadership is.  What can we say is true about real leadership?

We learn some of the truths of leadership by listening to people who are great practitioners of the art of leading people.  

1.  Leadership is not about the leader. There are plenty of narcissistic “leaders” who have a strong personality cult.  As much as we find this mesmerizing, if you look at what these leaders actually use their celebrity or influence for, you learn a lot about how genuine or real their leadership is.  The truth is, leadership is not about the leader at all.  Instead it is much more about a shared vision or mission, and when a leader is possessed by a captivating or enrolling vision, it tends to infect and inspire others in a similar fashion.  In their passionate embodiment of a vision, they often display confidence and charisma and other desirable personality traits, which is one reason we often confuse those very traits with leadership.  It’s the genuine leadership that lies at the source of the traits, not vice versa.

2.  There are many paths to leadership.  When you begin to study a large number of leaders, it is striking how little they have in common in terms of their background.  Some were born to privilege, some in poverty.  Some people have lots of raw ability, others appear to have no natural gifts or advantages.  Some face great adversity, others have few bumps along the road.  For some leaders a window of opportunity opens, while others have to create their own opportunities from nothing.  The various combination of factors in different leaders is truly staggering.  The bottom line is that leadership can be learned and developed over time, and natural talent by itself is not enough to lead people effectively.  Despite where people begin, leaders end up embracing a larger vision or mission and leading others to do the same.

3.  Leadership is really about developing others. Combined with the first truth (it’s not about the leader), true leaders know that it is imperative that the vision or mission not die with them.  They must intentionally attract, hire and cultivate talented people.  Leaders are not concerned about grabbing all the attention or credit themselves; instead they generously promote their team’s accomplishments.  This builds loyalty and confidence in those they lead.  Talk to a leader about what they’ve accomplished and usually they will bring up various people around them who made it happen.  Real leaders know how to work with and through other talented people.

4.  Leadership is shown by full-spectrum communication.  Many bosses try to lead with their words.  Strong leaders know that they communicate by their own example, their actions and non-verbal behavior, how they speak, and by the decisions they make.  This full-spectrum communication is personally challenging to master, but it is the key to ensuring an entire organization is aligned and working toward a common goal.  Although leadership is not about the leader, they do become a living embodiment of the vision and higher mission that is their reason for being.  Leaders realize that they communicate in many ways besides their words, and they take this reality very seriously.

There are other truths of leadership, but these are some of the key ones I’ve observed and heard from those who are great leaders.  Have you seen these exhibited in the leaders you know?  How do these truths speak to you?