On Becoming A Leader Essay

Nowadays, the title of â€Å"leader† seems to be sloppily thrown here and there. For the inexperienced eye, if someone seems to be the dominant individual in a group, people automatically ascribe the term to the person. Nowadays, it seems to be more of having a title than meeting that title’s responsibilities. It is imperative for a leader to know what enables his leadership; he should know how he had come to that position. In retrospect, a good study of the great leaders has amounted to a list of qualities that they innately possess. Bennis, (2003) in his book, â€Å"On Becoming A Leader† talks about what it takes to become a leader. There are different so-called â€Å"ingredients† that the author attributes the greatness of those people who have been worth enough to be called leaders of their generation. He speaks of ingredients such as guiding vision wherein a leader knows where he is going and knows how to get there. It is the proverbial horizon that the leader looks to. Another ingredient is passion—it is an enduring love for what he is doing. The author also speaks about integrity and being honest to oneself. He talks about the importance of doing away with self-deception and aligning one’s thoughts with one’s words and actions. He adds curiosity and a daring attitude to the mix as he stresses the importance of learning how to not be satisfied with the status quo by taking on challenges which have real-life risks. Finally, he closes with one of the most poignant traits that a leader must have. He bases his findings on a simple, yet hard-to-define element: trust. The author gives several reasons why it is important for a leader to be trustworthy. This trait essentially speaks of a leader’s integrity and how he deals with other people. Bennis says that it is one of the qualities that can only be earned and not acquired. It is given freely by the leader’s peers and followers. (Bennis, 2003) Trust is said to be one of the essentials that a leader needs in order to have his or her group up and running. Like a car without fuel, a leader will not be able to function if those under the leadership do not trust him. More than anything, this is the most vital part of any type of leadership. If the people are unable to follow the leader because they do not trust him or her, then it would be better if there was no one to follow at all. Apart from trust, all of the other ingredients are learned. Ordinary people will eventually learn how to look at the big picture and become accountable to themselves and to others. Leaders-to-be will eventually engender a love and a passion for what it is that they do but on of the things that cannot be learned is the trust that comes with responsibility. To be able to look at one’s follower and have that person say to you, â€Å"I trust you† is one of the most precious ingredients a leader can ever have. It is the cherry on top of everything else—the so-called icing on the cake without which everything will simply be ordinary and out-of-the-box. With all of the talk of having certain qualities that a leader needs to have, all of the ingredients are important but none as important as the trust that is earned by a leader.