I am a Capricorn. Being ambitious and disciplined, we are believed to be born as natural leaders. Pouring in hard work and determination, we excel in whatever role is given to us. We have a unique spirit of being powerful, to say the least.
Leadership is generally defined as the action to lead and influence a group of people or guide aficionados. Conversely, leadership style is more related to how leaders conduct business. Knowing our leadership style is important for us to be able to take full advantage of our effectiveness and potential.
Different books would say there are this number or that number of leadership styles, but the common types are autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic, servant, laissez faire, coaching and visionary. We have to understand that each kind of leadership style has its pros and cons.
In all honesty there is no best way to describe how a leader should be because we are all different and we belong to different teams, organizations or companies. Given this, we can modify the leadership styles mentioned above and put a personal touch to them.
In this way we can have our own style and call it our “signature” leadership. The need to know this kind of leadership lies in the fact that our followers need to understand how we work best and how we can serve them. Maybe we can ask them what their goals are and ask them too how we can help achieve those goals.
Assuming that I can determine my leadership personality, I am aware that leadership style cannot be predetermined. As we evolve, we should be adaptive to any style that would best serve us and our team members. Ultimately, we must have that sense of responsibility to improve our skills, relationships and goals.
In my case for example, since I am wearing three (3) hats: head of the family (husband), eldest child and professor, I do not stick to one style of leading either my wife and children, siblings or students. I may practice visionary and servant leadership for my family because I have a long-term plan for them, and I make sure to always empathize with them. On the other hand, I may be bureaucratic with my siblings because I am the eldest child. Furthermore, as a professor I may use a coaching style leadership because I need to encourage and be supportive of my students’ journey in college.
See? This is why leadership cannot be dictated or predetermined. It is something personal and consequential.
In my own words, I would like to define leadership as an initiative and an execution. If you have not started anything then how can you consider yourself a leader? Or, even if you have started something but have not put it into action, still, you are not a leader.
I remember Franklin Covey said there are (seven) 7 habits that highly effective leaders do, one of which is to “Begin with an end in mind.”
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