Remarkable leaders in history all have one thing in common; they all delivered a change, Churchill, Mandela, Ghandi or someone who launches a successful new business. What makes the mark of a great "leader" is about how effectively they delivered that change.

In terms of modelling behaviour, it is worth pondering if there would have been room for more than one Churchill at that particular time in history, can you imagine if there were both on the same side? It would have quite probably been a disaster, yet there were many notable leaders in WW2 when you lift the lid on the history.

We need to understand the nature of leadership so that we can help people develop it in their own style rather than simply cloning someone we admire.

In my view, the fundamental understanding of the nature of "leadership" has shifted quite dramatically over the past 50-60 years. Roll forward to the 21st Century and we live in a society where the sheer pace of change is the key driver of much of what we do, where our role, instead of being clearly defined within a strict hierarchy, is multi-dimensional to fit within our matrix managed, project driven lives.

Today, leadership transcends individuals, so even though today's most successful organisations may have a figurehead with a vision, strong leadership competencies are being displayed at every customer touch point and within every critical operation on order for the vision to be delivered.

To ensure good leadership will happen within a 21st business context, everyone within the organisation needs to get with the programme. The term "Leadership" sometimes confuses the issue because we tend to think of it as something the guy or girl at the top does, rather than something we all play our part in. Besides, not everyone wants to be thought of as a leader per se.

Within my "Synergy Programme" materials I call these core competencies the "Change-Able" skill set (a bit of a play on words). This is because for our businesses to succeed (and for us to succeed as individuals) we all need to become increasingly "Change Enabled". It is simply the difference that makes the difference.

A good "rule of thumb" for gauging an individual's leadership capability is how they spend their time. A good leader will spend the majority of their time on "Not Urgent but Important" tasks rather than "Urgent and Important" tasks (Quadrant 2 tasks rather than Quadrant 1 tasks using the Dr Stephen Covey First Things First time management model).

Coaching with the "Get the Competetive Edge in the Workplace" package will help you develop 21st Century Leadership Skills:-

Please contact me if you would like to explore this further.