Hi; Another pong thread... What is leadership? What makes a good leader? Ralph Nader says; I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. If that's true, why do so many religious leaders have cult like followers, but don't seem to be producing leaders? Or do they? And is that really "leading" or leadership? And, what about business "leaders" (think Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, etc) that teach people to gain confidence, acquire knowledge and blaze their own trail, thus "producing" leaders. Are "leading" and "leadership" the same? Thoughts? Ponderings? : ) Linda

Leadership is not waiting for others. Gary Simpson

True leadership is being able to see the bigger picture and portray and share those ideas with others. The more people that understand the message the greater the leadership skills. But good leaders give people the power and strength to believe in themselves (self belief) as well as any cause they may represent. A true leader is anyone who puts themselves in the firing line to achieve their goals. AKA lead by example. It's the only way to achieve proper respect. Think Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and all those groundbreaking people who changed history. That is true leadership.

A true leader trains people to replace them, a religious leader trains people to follow them. Interesting comparison! Do religious leaders believe they are above or better than their followers? I hope nobody takes offence to this comparison. I am talking about cult leaders and not true religious leaders. I have known many very good religious leaders. They are normally trained to lead and educate which I believe is the key to the difference between true religion and a cult.

Hi, Linda I think leadership is a combination of the courage to step out to find the way and the willingness to then show others the way and teach them to do the same. It may be that in certain times or circumstances a leader must be strong enough to be responsible for many followers--for example in time of war the leaders must rally the troops to a common cause. But in business, true leadership must develop leadership and vision in others. Otherwise, the ability to expand is seriously limited by the physical limitations of one person vs. many. Cheri