What makes a great leader? Leadership is a topic that evokes a wide variety of perceptions. It is widely researched and widely written about. Do a quick search for leadership on Amazon and over 60,000 books come up in the search results. A search on Google Scholar brings up over 3,860,000 academic articles* (18/2/19) and papers. Little wonder we have confusion. We have leadership experts, business gurus, psychologists and human behaviouralists all sharing their views on the subject, yet our real-world application is at best inconsistent.
So, when thinking about what makes a great leader, I thought I would add one more to the mix.
My leadership lessons have all come from real-world applications on reflection. That reflection usually came from a book that resonated with me. Some great work has come about from academic research, but the papers associated with them are usually tough going. Hard enough to motivate you to read the paper, let alone change behaviours within the spectrum.
My focus on this model is to create a model that can apply in almost every occasion and for every leader. It’s a model that is flexible enough to incorporate almost any principle or theory written and researched around leadership. It’s a model that is both personal and team-oriented. It is a model that can be applied to a business or an organisation.
I believe also that any future breakthroughs can be applied to the model. I believe we have a model that is simple yet comprehensive, and one that can be lived and taught. It is a model for leaders at all levels. It is your model.
What Makes a Great Leader?
I am not the first writer to write about or entertain the concept of anatomy of a leader. A simple google search highlights this. Some models are very comprehensive, including our smallest nerve endings, capillaries and neurons. I applaud these writers and theorists as they have explored the concept with enthusiasm and detail
Additionally, there is a range of principles incorporating certain parts of the anatomy, namely the leader’s heart. But we know the secret.
Everything comes from the mind. Every action and every thought stems from the mind. The pain we feel, our conscious actions, beliefs, habits and behaviours all stem from the major organ we know as the brain. Our conscious thoughts, our automatic actions and habits, how we view the world. It is driven from the functions of the brain. While I will share some of this research during the course of the book, the key for me was to create a build a framework that was simple to apply. While neuroscience has become a major research area for leadership theory, our main aim was to build a framework that can be applied for the benefit of the leader and their organisation.
I have taken three areas of the body that are well known for the roles they play in the provision of a fruitful life.
Forget everything you have learnt in the past because you will ignore everything in the future. This is the timeless model for leaders to follow. Timeless. I challenge any other leadership model and I will show how it fits, if it deserves to fit.
Tune in to discover what makes a great leader?
This range of podcasts from The Today’s Leader Podcast highlights the key areas I see in leadership development. Bookmark this page and come back often to learn what makes a great leader.
