My Theory of Leadership: Greatest Misconception about Leadership

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My Theory of Leadership
The greatest misconception about leadership is that it is directly correlated with seniority or the position that an individual holds or even age. However, leadership has no relationship whatsoever with these things and regardless of seniority or age or position, one can be a bad or non-influential leader. A leader has certain traits, skills, features, and also behaves in a way that defines who they are. It is easy to determine a leader within a group, and it might not necessarily be the person who holds the senior most position. What leaders possess cannot be undone chemically, biologically, or mechanically but it can be transferred, and their influence can be spread across generations. For example, the past leaders seem to have more influence in how people live their lives today because people trust in their counsel and wit. In many countries, the constitution was written a long time ago, but until today, with the help of a few changes or amendments, people ascribe to the same old statutes. Being an effective director might seem easy to some people, but the person in charge only feels the weight of such a position. With the help of Covey’s The 7 habits of highly effective people, Heider’s The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ch’ing adapted for a new age, and Machiavelli’s The Prince, this article will decipher the most important ingredients of effective leadership for an athletic director.
An athletic director first needs to be proactive. Proactive primarily means that a leader needs to be able to influence their environment or the athletics department in this case. Everyone within the department needs to understand what the director stands for to be influenced by him/her. In one of Machiavelli’s quotes, he said, “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.” A leader should not hide, and as the athletics director, it would be misleading to hide one’s virtues and stance. People become influenced by what they see in someone and also when they find out that one believes in what they say and stand by. The advantage here or the strength here is that one will earn the trust of his members or subordinates or colleagues. However, letting people experience who one truly is might also act as a success deterrent. The above is because the members or the team might work to impress and not because they believe in what their leader offloads on them each day. Conversely, it might help always to ask the members why they are doing what they are doing or what they aim to accomplish. These questions help to invoke real commitment and once that is done, then can one say that they have a committed team.
Machiavelli believed that a ruler needs the support of the governed albeit the fact that the ruler also needs to be feared. As an individual, it is impossible to accomplish much but with the support of one’s team, one may not necessarily win, but they will go further than they did when they were alone. Machiavelli’s words are also echoed by Covey and Heider but not in the exact words. Heider (147) said that “it is not...