LEADERSHIP – WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN?
Leadership—it’s a word that seems to pop up everywhere, but do we ever truly grasp its essence? It's like a game of whack-a-mole, with countless theories, books, articles, and videos attempting to define it. What works? What doesn’t? Is leadership just a mix of culture and personality? Or is it about being a good human? There’s a lot to unpack here, but let's explore an intriguing perspective on leadership.
We’re often taught in school and through countless blogs and articles that leadership is about specific skills: communication, listening, motivation, decisiveness, empathy, humility, innovation, adaptability, critical thinking, and integrity. The basic leadership styles—autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, servant, collaborative—are drilled into us. If you master these skills and adopt the right style, you’ll either succeed or fail spectacularly. Most people tend to anchor themselves to one style, occasionally shifting as their career progresses. But there’s so much more to leadership than just skills and style.
One perspective that resonated with me comes from a TED Talk by Rosita Najmi in 2023, titled "What’s Your Leadership Language?" This presentation left a strong impression on me. Najmi’s premise is that beyond basic skills and style, effective leadership requires fluency in four distinct organizational cultures or “leadership languages”: corporate, nonprofit, international, and public sector. Leadership isn’t just about style; it’s about communication—meeting people where they are by speaking their organization language.
So, what are these unique leadership languages? Let’s break it down with an example focused on addressing power and promoting gender equality:
Public Sector Leadership: Leaders here operate within the constraints of multiyear election cycles. They have the power to create equity through regulations and incentives, allocate specific budgets and funding through grants, appoint women to commissions, and mandate childcare support.
Business Sector Leadership: Leaders in this realm prioritize bottom-line profits and accounting. They might design products and services that enhance female economic power, diversify supply chains with women-owned businesses, and invest in female talent pipelines, ensuring pay equity and leadership opportunities to foster inclusivity.
Nonprofit/International Leadership: These leaders often focus on long-term, generational goals and cultural shifts. They can work to remove barriers affecting power distribution, fund research, and provide training that supports female empowerment.
The key to effective leadership is the ability to incorporate these various styles into decision-making, identify key issues, and collaborate across sectors to develop solutions, especially when addressing complex challenges. Leadership, in its truest form, is about more than just skills or style—it’s about adapting to different contexts and communicating effectively across diverse environments.
What does leadership mean to you?