How Do You Define Leadership?

Last week, Dennis Gagaoin from Gonzaga University asked me to help him with a research project he was doing on leadership. He asked me to respond to a survey with eight questions . . . which ended up being rather challenging. He asked me, “How do you define leadership?”

I told him that I’m not sure how I define it. I think to some extent you just know leadership when you see it, though occasionally you think you’ve spotted a leader and then later realize that it was simply a front. Fortunately, Dennis gave me time to think about my responses and put them in writing. I don’t think I could have answered a question like that off the top of my head.

David Campbell, in the book Contemporary Issues in Leadership, wrote, “Leadership has an elusive, mysterious quality about it. It is easy to recognize, hard to describe, difficult to practice, and almost impossible to create in others on demand. Perhaps no other topic has attracted as much attention from observers, participants, and philosophers--with so little agreement as to basic facts.”

I may not know how to define leadership but many others have touched on this topic. I’ve collected quotations since I was in junior high and often use them when I’m not articulate or credible enough myself. Having started with that quote from David Campbell, let me throw some more into the mix to answer the question.

Leadership means doing what is right: “It is as strong a statement as I can make that, in a world where everything seems to be measured by dollars signs, we can do well by doing good” (Tony Campolo, Everything You’ve Heard is Wrong). I believe that if admission professionals do what is in the best interests of the students first, their institutions will be healthy and respected and will achieve their goals.

Leadership requires teamwork: “You can’t pick up a pebble with one finger. It takes two” (Greg Bell, 2005 OrACRAO Conference). A leader thinks he or she can do it all on his or her own is doomed to failure. Related to this . . .

Leadership shares the credit and accepts responsibility: “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame; a little less than his share of the credit” (Arnold H. Glasgow)

Leadership requires making decisions: “Consensus is a poor substitute for leadership” (Charlotte Beers, CEO of Ogilvy and Mather ad agency). I interviewed for a job long ago at a Quaker university. One of the questions was what I would do when faced with a decision when there was no consensus on my team as to what should be done. I answered, correctly I believe, that I would seek out people’s opinions, listen and dialogue about them and, then, make a decision. Eventually, someone has to stand up and make a decision and not all decisions can be made by a group. Unfortunately, at least for me, this answer was wrong in light of this school’s culture. Complete consensus apparently was an overarching value on their campus, and decisions would not get made until there was full agreement. It may have worked fine for that institution, but I think generally this is a problem-laden approach . . . and one that I bet they do not truly hold to 100% of the time.

Leadership means caring about those you purport to lead: “Followers do not expect their leaders to have the answer to every question or the solution to every problem. But they do expect their leaders to be predictable and responsible, to listen to their concerns, to be interested in helping them solve their problems, and to be genuinely interested in them as persons” (Lynn Little, “When I Got the Man Right, the World Was Right”) In my opinion, this is the bookend to the earlier comment about “doing good.” If you try to “do the right things,” as simplistic as that sounds, and you are predictable and caring to your followers, you will likely be an effective leader.