When people talk about leadership, they mostly want to learn how to be good leaders at work. leadership in the corporate context is one of the hottest topics in the world, and everyone wants to learn how to become a billionaire and be the best possible boss. However, leadership is not just limited to the work frontier, it extends to all of society. In fact, leadership began as a societal phenomenon much before it evolved into a professional one. In fact, many of the present-day leadership qualities that corporate and professional leaders aspire to are based on the social and political leaders of the yesteryears.
Human beings are social animals and living together in large groups naturally meant that people needed to adopt different roles and accomplish different groups. In order to give structure to society and help society grow and develop, people were naturally divided into leaders and followers. The leaders paved the way and moved from one frontier to another, directing the others, while the followers completed the tasks assigned to them and helped bring the changes about.
Understanding the role and impact of good leadership in society makes for an interesting study. While it’s easy to break down the effects of leadership in the work environment into small, easily identifiable structures, analyzing how positive leadership affects society is somewhat complex. Society is a multi-phenomena structure, with a myriad of social forces, elements and factors at play all the time. Society is not limited to a few defined goals, and hence, leadership in society is a vast, and often intangible, phenomenon.
Leadership For Adopting Social Change
Leadership is instrumental to achieving social change. All through history, whether it was for abolishing social norms, overcoming social evils or modernizing history, social change has been impossible without the right kind of leadership. When it comes to mobilizing the masses, igniting passion in people towards a common goal and motivating people to act towards the said common goal, it isn’t possible to unite the people and inspire action without leadership. One person has to spear the movement, and he may not professionally be a leader, and does not have to be a political leader, but he should have the charisma to inspire people and motivate them. A great example from recent times would be that of Anna Hazare, and Indian citizen who inflamed thousands of Indians against the injustices of the Indian political system and the rampant corruption in society and politics and launched one of the biggest civil movements Asia has seen in a long time. In terms of social change, the leader is the face of the movement as well as the backbone of it, while the people form the heart and soul.
Leadership For A Positive And Content Society
It is interesting to note that one person or a small group of people has the power to influence how millions feel. A society that is bereft of competent leaders is invariably thrown into dissatisfaction at a small scale and turmoil and anarchy at a larger scale. A leader who is good at what he does, is able to keep people motivated and inspired, works for the greater good of society and not just his own personal gains, and is able to respect his people will be successful in creating a positive and happy society. When people have faith in their leader and feel that they are taken care of, be it economically or socially or politically, they are in a better frame of mind on the whole. Good leadership creates a happy society, and a happy society can build a strong nation!
Leadership For Improved Professional Performance
It is quite remarkable that even when leadership is effective in the social, not corporate, context, it has an impact on people’s professional lives. When a society is led by a powerful, positive and forward-thinking leader, one of the main areas of focus is people’s professional development. It goes without saying the professional progress is required for economic growth and no society can do well without financial stability. Hence, good leaders are those that take all factors into consideration, even if their role is ostensibly limited to one niche. A positive leader will always be mindful of the fact that people need to be achieving something in their professional capacities in order to lead the society forward, and hence the leader will emphasize the importance of education, picking the right career, working hard and focusing on performance.
Leadership For A Strengthened Identity
Most people fail to appreciate how a common leader is often the face of the society and a symbol for it. When people elect a leader they are proud of, or they are placed under the care of a leader who does a good job, there is a sense of pride and identification with the individual that also ties the society together. An effective leader is one that people of the society are happy to call their own, and in turn, the leader ends up bringing the society together and giving them a common, positive identity that the people are all happy to have. Societies are often remembered by their remarkable leaders and not the people, and it is a unique social phenomenon that one man or woman can not only shape the future of several people but can also make them feel closer to one another and strengthen their bonds with each other and with a common identity by virtue of being an effective leader.
Patrick Alain is the founder of the business communication warehouse LeaderPhrase.com, which is one of the top business, communication, and Leadership strategy source worldwide. Patrick Alain is internationally known for his contribution on some of the best-selling video games around the world.
