introduction to leadership, innovation, and change.

In other words, what happens at higher

levels within the organisation. In this first video, we'll be talking about what leadership is, and
different types of leadership. Then in the second video, we'll move on to when leaders emerge,
and what you need to feel like a leader. In the third video, we'll look at the factors that are
related to leadership effectiveness before we move on in the final video to looking at how you
can make Organizational innovation, and change effective. [MUSIC] So, what is leadership? I'm
sure you've come across lots of different leaders in your life, some of them good, others not so
good. Spend a few moments now thinking of two leaders that you have known. First, think of a
great leader. What was he, or she like? What made them great? Now, think of a bad leader that
you have come across. Why were they bad? What did they do? What made them different to
the first leader you thought about? In this session, we're going to be exploring these
differences. So, what do the experts think leadership is? Well, we've had a large number of
definitions suggested over the years, and no strong consensus on an overall definition.

However, we can say that leadership is about influence.

A leader is somebody who can sway other people's opinions and behaviours. A manager may
have a title, but a leader has the influence.

The second important element of leadership is that it occurs between a leader, and a follower
or a set of followers. If the influencing process occurs amongst peers, then it is a team process,
rather than leadership. The last point is that leadership is not just about who or what the leader
is. Leadership is definitely based on these things, but it also depends on how the followers
perceive the leader. For example, if they perceive the leader more as a friend than as a position
of power, then they may be less influenced by what the leader says or does. Leadership also
depends on the context. You're more likely to be influenced by the leader when there's a crisis
happening, and you're in a state of flux, though when you're in control and know exactly what
to do. So, all of these things contribute to the degree of influence in the leadership process.
Now that we know what leadership is, we can start to explore the different types of leadership.
The first differentiation is one that I hinted at earlier when we talked about the difference
between leaders and managers.

And this is the difference between formal, and informal leaders.

A formal leader is the person who has the title of being the leader of your group. This might be
your boss, the CEO of your company, or the leader of your country. Everybody knows that this
person is the leader because they occupy a formal position.

An informal leader is somebody who doesn't have a formal position, but who still engages in
an influencing process with followers. For example, Martin Luther King didn't have a formal
leadership position, but he had significant influence over his followers. The same can be said of
Mahatma Ghandi and Malala, and others. A CEO recently told me that one of the key leaders in
his organisation was the receptionist. Her followers were the customers, and potential sponsors
of the organisation who talked to her on a regular basis, and
she had tremendous influence over them. So, the message here is that you do not
have to have a title to be a leader. The last differentiation I want to make
between different types of leadership is whether the leadership comes
from the front, or from behind. When we think of a leader,
we tend to think of a Pied Piper type, a charismatic person
standing on a pedestal, and inspiring us to follow
them wherever they go. This is what we call charismatic,
or transformational leadership. However, there's another type of
leadership that we're beginning to recognise, and
that is called servant leadership. In this type, the leader supports
the followers from behind. They nurture, defend, and
empower their followers, so that they are simply the first among equals,
rather than being the person at the front. Their motto is that the needs
of others come first. Neither of these types are superior
to the other, generally. They are simply different types that
maybe more relevant to some people, and some cultures, than others. So in summary, we have
looked
briefly at what Leadership is, and what it can look like. Leadership is influence. And it's influence
that can come from
being in front, or from being behind. In the next video,
we'll look at how leaders emerge.