What is leadership? I believe that each leader will wrestle with this question, and should, as it will help them focus their energy and time as they pursue leadership. However, my goal here is to explain how leadership operates. So for our purposes here I will simply state that leadership is intentional influence. As we will discuss what your goals are and where you are will highly impact what your intentions are but none the less your influence must be intentional.

No matter where you are and what you are doing as a leader you will have concern, or should have concern with a few basics that are consistent across the leadership realm. I would like to list a few of them and quickly elaborate on them as this will be helpful.

Moral North. This is the fact that every leader is trying to do the right thing. Understand that this is not discussing what the right thing is or from where we gain the standard for what is right. For many this just comes from within and they set their own standard others may look to religion or the laws of society. This is merely the fact that each person has a moral compass and as leaders we are compelled to try and follow it.
Communication. All leaders aim to communicate to those that they are leading. Some will choose to communicate through speeches, the written word, video, or any other opportunity. The point here is that leaders recognize that communication is vital to success. Whether it is to communicate to gain trust or for propaganda, communication is vital.
Vision. When someone has the foresight to see the possibilities in front of them are then in a position to achieve them. Quite simple really, you either can see things or you can’t. However this is definitely something that is inherently strong in some but can be developed in others. Without vision you will have no idea where to take people, this will parallel a mass of people wondering around the wilderness following a leader who has no idea of which way is out. It is true – without vision the people perish.

These few are at the core of every leadership training that is out there. I hope you consider giving some attention to each of these and spend some time with honest and critical evaluation.