But leadership isn't a place, it's a process and this becomes all the more important to appreciate going forward in time. Leadership involves skills and abilities that are useful whether one is in the executive suite or on the front line, on Wall Street or Main Street, on college campuses, community corners or corporations. And the most pernicious myth of all is that leadership is reserved for only a very few of us. Leadership is certainly not a gene, and it is most definitely not something mystical and ethereal that cannot be understood by ordinary people. At the heart of the relationship is trust.
Exemplary leaders are devoted to building relationships based on mutual respect and caring.
They seize the initiative. Starting a new organization, turning around a losing operation, greatly improving the social condition, enhancing the quality of people's lives demands a proactive spirit. Waiting for permission to begin is not characteristic of leaders. Acting with a sense of urgency is. In our well-intended efforts to thoroughly diagnose the situation, to craft artful change programs, and to build broad consensus we stall progress.