But leadership is often misunderstood. It's not holding a position. It's not having knowledge. It's not even a result of success. Although a good leader may be in a high-ranking position and have abundant knowledge and success, what makes someone a leader is his or her ability to influence others.
Leadership is influence.
Many years ago, I developed a tool to help demonstrate how influence works. Every relationship in your organization fits into one of the five levels. Picture them as a series of stairs, with the first step on the bottom. As your relationships climb to higher levels, your measure of influence increases and you are able to accomplish more together. Take a minute to study the levels of leadership and assess the level of your key relationships.