What is Leadership? Day One

This week we’re looking at the question: What is leadership? In today’s flash briefing we will look at: The dictionary definition, what it mean, what it means to influence and who you influence and lead.

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Transcript

Welcome to the Leading With Nice Daily. I’m Mathieu Yuill. This week we’re going to look at the question, what is leadership? So the dictionary definition is this. It’s a noun and it is the action of leading a group of people or an organization.

Now, interestingly, the word leadership only came about a hundred years ago. It’s a bit older than that, but really in 1909 is when you started seeing it used regularly in literature, but it wasn’t until 1969 when it really became part of our popular language. But I’d like to offer another definition.

Leadership is the act of influencing other people. It’s an action. It’s a verb. It’s not a noun like the dictionary definition. Now, most of you listening, I would probably agree that there are positions of leadership. People are put into the obvious, like the CEO of a company, the chair of a board or president of a university or college.

That would definitely fit the noun, the title of leadership but leadership as a verb. Well, that’s you. You definitely influence other people every day and in many ways. So here’s your action for today. Think of the people in your life you influence, who do you have formal influence over and who do you informally influence? Put another way.

Who do you seek to influence by your words and actions intentionally and who was influenced by you as a byproduct of your words and actions? For more on this topic, visit leadingwithnice.com where we want to help you inspire others, build loyalty and get results. Talk to you again tomorrow.