What is true Leadership?

In this article I will address the fundamentals of leadership and how they affect us in the workplace. Leadership is actually the ability of an individual or group of people to lead and guide other people toward a common goal. The leader actually provides a vision presentation and sets a personal example for others as well as the leader needs to have the ability to make decisions and implement them while leading changes. Traits like organizational ability, courage, delegation of authority, maintaining values and maintaining the trust of followers are common among successful leaders.

The leader knows he must guide his way by the truth because the truth is always grounded and backed by facts. Hence qualities like honesty, fairness and integrity are critical in the long run for any leader. Ultimately, each leader is judged by the end result he presents by choosing a particular strategy and therefore another critical trait for the leader is decisiveness. The leader must make courageous decisions even if he has to take calculated risks along the way.

Another important thing in leadership is to give up the personal ego for the common good, and for the leader to be able to achieve the best result. A good leader is a leader who also understands the importance of cooperation and consultation with the experts around him (again this is about giving up the ego in order to achieve the goal). By consulting the experts, the leader becomes smarter in the long run and more effective. Beyond that, a leader needs to have emotional intelligence and show caring towards his people and thus in fact his people will also care about the mission and the end result. The relationship between the leader and his followers is critical in the long run. The leader should define the task clearly so that it is understandable to everyone.

It is important to remember that if we take a moment to look at the workplace we can identify that not every manager is a leader. The fact that a person has a managerial position in the workplace does not necessarily show that he or she does have leadership skills. For example, a manager who works with his people in the group, listens to them and understands their needs, will be considered a better leader than a manager who does not show a caring attitude towards his employees and is driven by personal interests rather than the interests of the whole group. Remember that the leader is responsible for the end result so he must be creative, choose the right strategy and work wisely.

What is a good manager you are probably asking?

 In order to answer this question, watch the next video of Steve Jobs and his definition of a good manager - what is a good manager? - click here to find out

How could the leader improve his skills and results? By investing in himself. Investing in knowledge and the desire to learn new things will leverage the leader quickly. Investment in learning and the desire for knowledge, are in fact the key to the future leader's success. Investment in self-study could be reflected in reading books, attending workshops and seminars and learning from other leaders and experts. In addition, to every leader there should be certain standards by which he acts and under no circumstances should he give them up.

Studies done on leadership have found that the really important skills for a leader's success are mainly ethics and maintaining standards, setting clear goals for the group, verbal ability and clear communication with team members, openness and listening to other ideas and flexibility in changing strategy to achieve the goal.  It is said that true leadership is revealed in difficult moments. Indeed, once pressure is exerted on a true leader he must not break down but function even better under that pressure.

One of the big challenges for the leader is choosing the right people to carry out the task. Are the people in the group really in it for the right reasons? What motivates them? What is important to them? A true leader knows very quickly who is not right for the team and who is hurting the team's ability to perform the tasks. Did you find that there is a problem with one of your team members? Take him for a personal conversation and do not criticize him in public. 

The leader must ensure that there is cooperation and harmony between the group members and every one of them, does his job in the most effective way. To this end, he must treat the group members with deep understanding and provide supportive and encouraging feedback. Each member of the group should have the freedom of action to do his job freely and independently and enrich himself with knowledge, and therefore, the members of the group will in time become leaders themselves. Do your team members contribute to the team and do a great job? Excellent! Give them positive feedback and reward them. Show them that you care about the result they achieve for the team. 

One of the best ways to build trust in yourself as a leader by team members is to share with them your past experience and the challenges you have gone through. Be attentive to your team members and make sure they feel comfortable.

Leaders face many challenges. If you encounter a problem and you are not sure what is the best solution, do not make a quick decision. Take the time to analyze the facts until you choose the best strategy that will lead to the solution of the problem. Remember that as a leader you need to see a few steps ahead and know what is going on below the surface. Also keep in mind that you as a leader need to keep your word to others and thus you will also gain a higher appreciation.

You need to inspire team members by your work ethic as a leader and showcase your talent.

Whenever I hear the word leadership I immediately think of the story of Saladin (Salah Al-Din ) (in Arabic - صلاح الدين) during the Crusades. This was one of the most fascinating periods in history. The Crusades are a series of religious wars and military campaigns initiated by Christian popes between the 11th and 13th centuries. They began attempts to conquer Jerusalem from the Muslims and bring it under Christian rule, but turned into territorial wars over other places as well. All the Christian participants in these conquests were called Crusaders.

The Crusades had a huge impact on Europeans in the Middle Ages. It all actually started with the Christians coming to Jerusalem to visit the holy places of Christianity but occasionally encountering an attack and harassment from the Muslims. Due to this fact and the encouragement of the churches in Europe, the knights left Europe to conquer the city of Jerusalem from the Muslims.

In 1099 tens of thousands of knights came from Europe to the Middle East but most of them died during the journey. In the end, they did succeed in conquering Jerusalem and establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem there. The Knights ruled Jerusalem for nearly a century until in 1187 they were defeated by the Muslim leader Salah Al-Din. 

Who was Salah Al-Din and how did he manage to defeat the Knights after almost a hundred years? Salah Al-Din was an amazing leader and strategist of of the highest level, who knew how to unite all the muslim peoples around him for one purpose - Conquest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and bring it back to Muslim rule!

Beyond fighting together with his soldiers Salah Al-Din knew the area better than the knights and unlike them, Salah Al-Din's soldiers were light and very fast (unlike the knights who were heavy in motion). 

Beyond that, Salah Al-Din always behaved with nobility and respect towards his people and was therefore also considered a central figure in Muslim culture. The defeat of the Crusaders was the decisive breaking point of the Christian kingdom, which was established in the Land of Israel following the First Crusade. The full story of Saladin is described in many books in history and of course in the film Kingdom of Heaven, which was released in 2005.