Upmarket Magazine

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What is Leadership? Posted: 06 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST When you hear the word leader, what do you think of?  Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg address?  George Washington marshaling his scared and freezing soldiers, trying to encourage them to stick around just a bit longer?  Maybe you think of Jack Welch's turnaround of GE.  Or Steve Jobs introducing the world to an entirely new line of products. These are often the defaults when it comes to leadership.  However, as important as these leaders may be, these are not the most important leaders in your life.  Frankly, that honor is reserved for you. We are leaders to our kids, our families, our co-workers, the people we see in the stores, and even the people who are driving on the roads with us.  In fact, every day you are a leader to dozens if not hundreds of people.  Every time you interact with someone you assume a position of leadership. Of course few of us see ourselves this way.  We think leaders are "over there."  Or "someone special."  But the truth is, true leadership is much closer to home. And that makes sense because of the way our culture treats leadership.  Few topics (if any) have been studied as much in American culture.  In part because we all love a dramatic story of someone overcoming adversity to win the day.  And in part because we desperately want to understand what makes people "special."  But when we look at leadership more closely we see that just because someone is a brilliant leader in one area of his or her life, it doesn't mean that they are brilliant in leading other areas. You might never be famous, or known beyond a few people, but that doesn't make you any less of a leader.  Leadership isn't just about followers or fame.  It's about how you live your life.  It's about the example that you set for people.  It's about the mark that you leave on their life.  A mark you might not even know about. At the end of the day, people can't imitate your intentions, they can only imitate your actions. That's leadership. So today, are you going to be a leader? Photo credit: Hamed Saber

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