>Spending the morning thinking what leadership is I came across some great definitions, including this from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester: leadership is “the process of influencing the behavior of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom.” I came to the conclusion that there are as many definitions of leadership as there are leaders.
And then I listened to Tom Peters highlighting the importance of listening in leadership. He says: “The single most significant strategic strength an organisation can have is not a good strategic plan, but a commitment to strategic listening on the part of every member of the organisation.” I suspect that most followers find leaders who don’t listen overpowering and insensitive – and then they find someone else to follow.
To make his point he refers to the amount of data that doctors ignore because they only listen (according to his research) for 18 seconds before interrupting the patient – and suggests that that is true for 7 out of 8 “bosses”.
Grits and Grains 