To kick off, I have a question for you:

What does leadership look like?

I met a guy last week, told him about my newsletter, and his response was “That sounds cool, but I see no leadership experience on your LinkedIn profile.”

Hmmm ☹

That got me wondering: What does leadership experience look like on paper, and why do a lot of people tend to conflate management titles with leadership ability?

The former signals the latter sometimes, yes, but the two are not necessarily correlated.

Let’s imagine I’ve just come out of university and I have no work experience. But I have three younger siblings and a single mother I must support every day. I probably demonstrate tremendous leadership as my circumstances demand, but would it be fair to assume that I have no leadership experience because you can’t see an explicit management title on my CV?

Leadership is not a position. Leadership is a behaviour. A dynamic behaviour. It’s not static. It always moves based on the context.

I might show great leadership on one client project, but not-so-great leadership on another project. It’s not a fixed state.

Moreover, there are so many facets! For example, I might show great personal leadership when training for a triathlon, but not show team leadership on a project at work. In this case, am I a leader or not?

Or let’s say that at work I show great team leadership by always being inclusive, helping others out when they need help, and asking the right questions, amongst other things, but then I don’t show up on time most days, my dressing is a bit unprofessional, etc. This means that, while my team leadership is commendable, my personal leadership needs work because I am not handling myself right!

There are other forms of leadership e.g. leadership in quality and technical excellence, and the list goes on. There’s really no one-size-fits-all approach to defining who a leader is and what leadership represents. 

One could write a book on its numerous nuances, don’t you think?

Guest post by Akachi Obijiaku.