The society around us has defined leadership in millions of ways and even when you search for the definition of a leader, google comes up with this - a person who leads or commands a group or an organization and that's were the narrative fails, if you ask me. A true 'leader' is the one who strives to create an environment where people can express themselves fearlessly, a trait which is very rare in a corporate world and usually not associated with being a leader but then that's where the 'difference of opinion' arise.
We have always associated a leader with a larger than life image who is followed by everybody but in reality what we need is a person who can lift everybody around him and make them even more smarter, and bigger. He gets the desired results but at the same time makes his team/people even better than he found them. A leader will always look and protect his tribe.
On the other hand, managers get a set of tasks done by their employees on a daily basis, may be faster than it was done yesterday. Often, in the corporate world, we confuse between the 2. What we see, majorly around us, are managers who set a goal for their teams and direct them to work and achieve that goal.
Ironically, the corporate world needs more managers than leaders but remember, we can strive to be a leader in the environment that we are in. In many cases, it might take a lot of courage & conviction to create a 'fearless' environment but then that's why leaders are scarce and thus more valuable.
We can try to be one !
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