The question came up in the coaching breakout session at PGS: what is the definition of leadership? Chapter Sixteen of “Pure Instinct” by Kathy Kolbe focuses entirely on this concept. Here’s an excerpt from page 281:
“True leadership builds on participants’ motivation, Striving Instincts, commitment, reason, and talent – the entire Creative Process. Anytime someone needs to control people’s methods of contribution, it signals a lack of leadership qualities….When you manage other people’s instinctive drives, you are a leader.
Effective leaders accept the obligations of stewardship, of overseeing the process of attaining goals. They accept responsibility for selecting teams with the right mix of instincts, skills, and experience, and for guiding conflicting natural energies.
Leaders act as a catalyst for freely given conative commitments and give direction to the variety of problem-solving methods that a contatively synergistic group will suggest. And they manage to do this without inhibiting anyone’s participation. They bring out the best in people, drawing forth and increasing instinctive energy toward cooperative efforts.”
The Incisal Edge 