How Do You Define "Leadership"?

Why do leaders exist? Why does your company need managers, supervisors, directors, executives, or team leads? What would happen if all the leaders disappeared tomorrow?

Companies need leaders because leaders help companies achieve their operational and strategic goals. Leaders are so integral to achieving these goals that the best companies invest significantly in leadership development.

In 2019, U.S. companies spent $166 billion on leadership coaching and development according to Forbes. That's about $500 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. That's a ton of cash. Actually it's 1,800 tons of cash (in $100 bills). Sheesh. What do we get for all that money?

It turns out very little. Part of this lack of results comes from how we define leadership and how this affects the approach to leadership coaching.

As a leader, how you define leadership is important. If you define leadership as "influence" (a common definition), you may focus on increasing your influence. If you define leadership as "transformation", you may focus on transforming your department, business, or team. If you don't have a definition of leadership, well, to quote the Chesire Cat, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

“Leadership is hard to define, and good leadership even harder.” — Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo.

For my doctorate, I research leadership and spend a lot of time narrowly defining leader, leadership, and management. I did this because the definition of leadership, leader, and management affects the outcomes that you get. Because we have an immature definition of leadership, we have immature research on leadership. Despite centuries of writing on leadership, modern leadership researchers recognize that leadership research is “relatively immature” (Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, & McKee, 2014, p.80). Our lack of a clear definition of leadership contributes to this problem.

This is more than an academic issue. As an executive coach, this is a real problem. Again, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." This is why the state of leadership coaching and development is in the state that it's in. That's why some coaches are little more than empathic listeners. These coaches don't have a full-formed definition of leadership. They rely on the client to know how to lead. These coaches are just there to listen, nod, and ask questions. There are a lot (trust me, a lot) of coaches who were trained to never offer advice, to only ask questions, and to help leaders examine themselves.

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." - Chesire Cat

Some other coaches use a cookie-cutter approach to executive coaching. They have one definition of leadership, are trained in one coaching methodology, and they shove you into their mold because that all they know. They only have one definition of leadership and you will fit their definition.

Using 20-years of experience and evidence-based research, I created the framework for outcomes-based coaching. Outcomes-based coaching has an experience-based, evidence-supported leadership framework and integrates operational and strategic goals with leadership development. A framework isn't a single definition. A framework is an underlying system that guides the process of leadership development. The Synoptus framework develops leaders that produce business value and achieve operational and strategic goals. Our framework is more than a theoretical construct. It's a proven methodology that increases employee engagement, productivity, operational excellence, and leadership capabilities.

How about you? How do you define leadership? Does your definition help you produce business value and achieve operational and strategic goals? Do you have a defined process of developing leaders? Do you know where you are going, and what road will take you there? If not, contact Synoptus. We'd love to help.

About the Author

David G. Rettig is the C.E.O. of Synoptus, which accelerates the delivery of business-value through leadership coaching, digital transformations, and custom Salesforce architecture & development. David has 2 decades of leadership experience, is a doctorate candidate researching effective leadership training, and has an MBA and MS in Management & Leadership. He authored highly-rated leadership and technology books available at Amazon. If you'd like to talk to David about leadership coaching, Salesforce consulting, or digital transformation projects, email drettig@synopt.us.