I can't tell you what leadership is.

I think about it all the time. I'm on a team that designs and delivers courses about it. My word, I've even published 2 books that deal with aspects of it. But, truth be told, I still don’t know what leadership really is. And, while I think we all sort of know what it is, I don't think anybody has ever put their finger on it.

Is leadership about going first? Sometimes the leader is simply the one in front of others, like firemen going down the dark basement stairs, all following some guy named Dirk who’s shining his flashlight one or two steps ahead. He’s “leading” the way.

This applies to being the fastest thinker too. I've often noticed in group discussion that the person who comes up with the first workable answer ends up being the de facto leader of a conversation. The others, almost by definition, “follow”, just because they're not the first out of the thinking gate.

I suppose the "going first" thing might also show up as being innovative or creative. The creator of sticky notes sure made 3M the leader in its field!

Being proactive instead of reactive could also be a manifestation of "going first". When you can regularly cut problems off at the pass, you're charting the course of leadership.

I think most of us would agree that the leader is the person with the vision, the one who "sees" the future or has some other exclusive understanding. After all, if the ruler of the universe spoke to Moses, then, well, let’s follow Moses for heaven’s sake; he seems to have made it to the “in crowd”.

Of course, there's the courage/confidence stuff. Great leaders might be fearful, but I believe they try not to let it show too much or they effectively "self manage".

And we can't leave out the mysterious "personal power" aspect of leadership. This can take many forms: intensity, charm, or charisma. Even humility, though it seems the opposite of what we usually think of as "high powered", can be a force in and of itself. Same goes for authenticity, integrity, and that weird balance of compassion and focused decisiveness.

The best leaders I know really seem to "own" the mission, if you know what I mean. They are engaged. I don't think you can show true leadership if you're only partly engaged.

On some days it’s clear to me that leadership is the ability to bring people along. That is, you can engage others by establishing commonality with them and then showing them a new way. That's leadership in day-to-day practice

So is there a basic recipe? Let's see what we've got here. There's this "out front" thing. A clear vision of a desirable future, or of how stuff works. Confidence. Some sort of personal power. Ownership. A certain ability to enrol others.

I am positive this list is incomplete. And it doesn't even touch some of the juiciest questions about leadership, such as: Are the best leaders born or made? How can one optimize one's leadership style? What's the role of the leader? What are the differences between leading, managing, coaching, mentoring, consulting, facilitating? What's inside a "vision"? What exactly IS charisma? Where does confidence come from?

It'll take a leader to lead the way on these things. A big, fat leader.