Leadership Approaches

A leader can be defined as a person who influences a group of people, organization, etc. in to achieving a set out or common goal. The aim of this paper is to identify the different approaches to leadership, but there is no single definition of leadership, as it can mean many different things to many people depending of their profession, environment and leadership style (Mielach, 2012).
A definition of leadership by Mumford is “the influence of others towards a collective goal” (Mumford, 2010). Some other definitions of leadership include; leadership is a force that leaders posses that causes followers to act and head in the intended direction of the leader (Hogue, 2013). Another definition by Gary Yukl is leadership is influencing others to understand what need to be done and how to go about getting it done (Yukl, 2006). Leadership requires the inevitable use of power to influence the thought and also the actions of other people. (Zalezink, 1977).
The common thing, character or factor in the above definitions of leadership is influence; influence is a very important characteristic in leadership. Influence is changing or altering the perception of other people to achieve a set out goal (Yukl, 2006, as cited in Mumford, 2010). Influencing others (subjects, colleagues, etc.) is how leaders lead because without influence, there is no leadership (Bacon, 2011). Know when and how to use it….. Other characteristics of leadership include honesty, confidence, ability to delegate, creativity, ability to inspire others, integrity, fearlessness, respect for other, etc.
Mumford thing ….

Most people at some points in their lives are leaders; some people become leaders on a school group project (low profile) or leader of an organization or ...

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...s. Another problem is that different traits would be more effective in different situations and some traits may be gender or culture based.
The second leadership approach is behavior. This approach came up when leadership researchers found out that the trait approach is weak and has inadequate findings this is because it focuses just on leaders (Mumford, 2010). Leadership researchers gradually began to find other leadership approaches that would be inclusive. Approaches that focus on what leader do with their positions rather than the qualities they posses.
Behavioral approach to leadership suggests that leaders are made not born; it is the direct opposite of what the trait approach suggests (Cherry n.d.). Like I mentioned earlier, the behavioral approach focuses on what the leader can do with their positions rather than the qualities they posses (Cherry n.d.).