Leadership is often forgotten or ignored and is definitely less understood. This is understandable when we think of the titles that we use: owner-manager, managing director, regional manager, and branch manager. We even have service development and innovation managers which could feel like something of a contradiction.

So, what is leadership? When I ask people “Do you know what leadership is?”, everyone nods. When I ask them to define what leadership is, they often become unstuck. It seems to be something that we recognise when we see it but struggle to describe it. And that makes it hard to choose to be a leader.

The Cambridge English Dictionary provides a definition that is a useful starting point. They describe the verb to lead as;

• Show the way to a destination

• Be a reason or motive

• Set in motion.

Successful leaders have a vision of where they want to move towards and have ideas about how they can make this a reality, they motivate their resources to take that journey and they are able to break the strong power of inertia that keeps people attached to the status quo. This is true whether leading yourself, a team or an organisation.