6 Reasons Why Leadership Matters

Leaders can change the world for the better.

As Margaret Mead said:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

In the professional speaking community, there is a saying:

“Humour isn’t important for a speaker – unless you want to get paid.”

Similarly, leadership isn’t important for you … unless you want to make a difference and impact, or you want to grow your business.

If you want to matter … then leadership matters.

Here are 6 reasons why.

Why You Should Care About Leadership

It may be worth paying greater attention to your leadership because:

1. Leadership connects your head and your heart
2. If you have a purpose – you are a leader
3. Leaders change the world
4. Leaders attract followers
5. Leadership is the critical core of your business
6. Leadership is your highest ROI activity

Let’s explore these one by one.

1. Leadership connects your head and your heart

Leadership connects your head to your heart, your vision to your values, and your soul to your strategy.

“Leaders are in love—in love with the people who do the work, with what their organizations produce, and with their customers.” – Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge

Leadership can connect your head to your heart because some of the core functions of leadership are to

• Know and stand for your values, and to
• Develop and implement your strategy around a vision.

Leadership brings these together, synthesises them, and aligns them.

A leader will choose a different strategy if their first strategic option is not aligned with their vision and values.

Because it puts your values at the centre, before strategy … leadership is the foundation of authentic business.

2. If you have a purpose – you are a leader

If you have a purpose for your life or business, your purpose is unique.

Your purpose is personal to you, and only you can take ownership of it and responsibility for delivering it.

No one else can take the lead around delivering on your purpose.

Just like other people can’t do your pushups for you, you have to lead your own mission.

That means if you have a purpose, you are a leader.

Other people or organisations might have a similar purpose or shared purpose. But your purpose is your purpose, and it’s up to you to lead and make it happen.

3. Leaders change the world

Leadership is one of the handful of things that can and will genuinely change the world for the better.

“… the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Apple, “Think Different” campaign

And it’s not just for the world. Leadership creates impact more broadly.

If you have clients, leadership is what creates change in your clients’ lives, if you’re in a service industry, like a coach, consultant, speaker.

If you do marketing, leadership is what uplifts marketing from a transactional relationship about selling stuff to an authentic leadership conversation and transformational guidance, so that your marketing makes a difference.

Leadership makes change happen and creates an impact.

And that changes the world for the better.

4. Leaders attract followers

People in all walks of life and all industries are looking for guidance, to

• Make sense of a complex and rapidly changing world
• To help solve problems.

They turn to leaders – those who can tell us what to do – what works, why it matters, and what is right.

Those who can provide that advice are valued in the market and take a leadership position, a leadership role.

These leaders attract followers, and grow their businesses.

5. Leadership is the critical core of your business

Leadership is the boss of everything in business.

It takes ultimate responsibility:

• It decides the strategies.
• It establishes the values.
• It makes the choices.

Everything in business depends on the leadership decisions.

The leadership function is the boss of the marketing, delivery, operations or any other function in the business.

Every function in business is shaped by the decisions that leadership makes.

This is as true whether this is a one-person business (where the leader and the marketer are the same person) or a 100,000 person company.

Leadership is the critical core of your business.

6. Leadership is your highest ROI activity

Because leadership is at the core of business, leadership decisions matter.

“Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right thing” – Peter Drucker

Leadership takes responsibility for the critical things in business, like doing the right things, being in the right market, getting the strategy right, getting the business model right, and getting the positioning and messaging right.

Get the leadership decisions wrong, and it can lead to disaster.

Get the leadership decisions right, and everything else can fall into place or be accelerated. Great leadership decisions can ripple through to further successes in marketing, sales, delivery, operations and financials.

Getting the leadership decisions right can lead to clarity and focus.

For these reasons, focusing on your leadership function in your business can be one of the highest ROI activities you can undertake.

About Me

I am passionate about activating human potential – helping make the world a better place.

I work with smart, creative leaders – transformation leaders such as coaches and consultants, thought leaders such as speakers and authors, and change agents and difference-makers –  to help them make a bigger difference through their work.

I focus on the areas of strategy, alignment, and full-expression – turning your ideas and expertise into messages that cut through and programs, services or products that make a difference.

I do what I can to improve the thinking and tools we have available in our industry and in the world.

You can learn more about me from my home page www.lauchlanmackinnon.com 

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