Are you a leader or just a boss?

I often find that many people confuse leadership with positional power. We tend to believe that a person in a position of authority or someone with a title has their position or title due to their leadership qualities. However, in many cases there is no correlation between someone’s position and their leadership ability.

Just having a title does not make you a leader, leaderships is about influence. Title only buys you time to exercise true leadership, and in this time your leadership either increases or diminishes and eventually fails. There is a huge difference between being a boss and being a leader…! Consider the following…

• The boss drives group members; the leader coaches them.
• The boss depends upon authority; the leader on good will.
• The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.
• The boss says ‘I’; the leader says ‘we.’
• The boss assigns the task, the leader sets the pace.
• The boss says, ‘Get there on time’; the leader gets there ahead of time.
• The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
• The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
• The boss makes work a drudgery; the leader makes it a game.
• The boss says, ‘Go’; the leader says, ‘Let’s go.’“

People follow the boss because they have to if they want to keep their jobs. People follow leaders because of who they are and were they are going.  Too many leaders today rely on their position to lead. How about you?