Several approaches have been taken trying to describe how the greatest leaders in history have emerged. So far, several authors agree that leadership is a process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically towards achieving objectives. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s described administration as: “the art of getting someone else to do something you want to be done because he wants to do it.” If we think about it, the first factor that should be considered to study how leadership is developed is people’s ability to influence others.
Leaders emerge because they are followed, and to effectively defined leadership we need to study how the leader affects the followers. In his book, Northouse, 2017 made a critical remark mentioning the importance of giving the same weight to followers and leaders. In other words, leaders need followers and followers need leaders to accomplish goals. People are always in search of revolutionary changes that improve human being’s conditions. We have experienced social, cultural, political, technological, and economic shifts directed by great leaders who were able to transmit their vision, passion, and goals to followers who were able to execute and materialize those ideas (Friedman, 2008).
Though, no relevant research indicates which are the specific traits that may define a good leader. We consider that having the capacity to inspire others is one of the most important characteristics that we should develop to become great leaders (Goleman, 2017). The question is how we can work out the ability to inspire others?
First, we need to work on what Northouse, 2017 called conceptual and technical skills. To inspire others, we need to have a clear vision of which are our ultimate goals and which is the best way to accomplish them. To have technical skills means to have the knowledge and analytical skills to propose action plans. To have conceptual skills implies the capability to work with ideas and with different hypothetical scenarios that may help us to reduce uncertainty during the execution phase. Summarizing, we need to have a specific and well-founded notion of why we want to accomplish specific goals, and we need to show the ability to express it to the followers. If the followers share our view, they will be inspired to pursue the same goals.
Studying some of the most influential leaders in history, we can see that they succeeded because they were able to communicate why their vision should be followed. They did not force people to support them. They were followed because they inspired trust and because they trusted others. People tend to feel motivated to accomplish goals if they are involved during the analysis of the different scenarios and action plans. As leaders, we need to have the ability to show concern for others. This is what Northouse, 2017 called human skills. To have human skills means to build a cooperative environment where people can feel free to express their ideas, concerns and where they can feel safe to make mistakes and being honest about them. As we mentioned before, there are no leaders without followers, and if we are not able to create plans and solutions that include the different perspectives of our followers, our possibilities to be perceived as influential thinkers by the members of our group will be reduced.
Some authors such as Goleman, 2017 described different leadership styles. Among the most popular are the authoritative and coercive forms. In a coercive manner, the leader’s behavior and approach are based on imposition. This style, shows a tendency to blame, to be inflexible, and to show an erratic change of personality. If we think about it, this style does not fit the description of an influencer that may encourage people to do great things. Leaders that apply this style may accomplish the required goals. However, this author believes that the best way to achieve great things is taking into consideration other’s perspectives and inspiring them to think outside the box to generate creative solutions. On the other hand, the authoritative style is according to Goleman, 2017 one of the most effective because being authoritative does not mean to impose our point of view; it implies to have a clear opinion of what we want to accomplish and to show our followers why their work fits in our opinion. An authoritative leader is generally perceived as a figure of respect because they successfully transmit their vision and because they can show control. In this style, the standards of success are clear to all as well as the rewards.
Based on the styles described above, we can say that some traits of our personality may define our leadership style. However, we have the conviction that leadership is a process, which means that if we want to influence others to follow us, we have to identify our strengths and weaknesses to work on them and develop our knowledge and capabilities. For example, Northouse, 2017 listed four traits that can be exploited to build leadership abilities. It is necessary to show self-confidence, determination, integrity, sociability, and we want to add one more: empathy. In our perception of leadership, understanding others is an essential trait because we need to know what they need to present great ideas, solutions and initiate disruptive changes; as well we need to show concern for others if we want to be followed.
In conclusion, the scientific study of leadership is just starting, and there is not conclusive evidence of what makes great leaders. However, based on some of the most influential thinkers of history, we can conclude that great leaders are the ones that have been able to transmit their passion, concern, and vision. They are followed because they can be trusted and have a clear view of what they want to accomplish. Being empathetic means to be able to understand other’s position, which is essential to create great products, ideas, and disruptive changes.