Real leaders: the path of genius and commitment

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One of the most important question, for us, is: who a leader is?

The answer may be difficult, but we may say that a leader is someone who makes a change in people’s life towards the achievement of a target. A leader is someone who has something like a magic power. When he enters a room he catches you with his eyes. In that really moment he is able to understand you, to feel your emotions and your feeling.

People however confuse the figure of a leader with the figure of a boss. The difference between a boss and a leader is that the first one asks you to do things. A leader “gets his hand dirty”, teaching people by good example, being the first one who starts working and the last one who leaves his office.

After explaining who a leader is and the differences with a boss, we may analyse how does he communicate.

In first place a leader has always got a message: he knows what his credo is and he is proud of it.

Then he knows that people are different from each other and everyone has to be treated in a specific way, engaging them in a person-to-person relationship. This kind of relationship is usually called conversational leadership: instead of giving commands from on highs, a real leader prefer to inspire his workers, making the relationship with them special.

In order to build a organizational conversation, based on conversational leadership, a leader has four different elements: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion and intentionality. What do the “4 Is” mean?

Intimacy means to get closer and closer: a leader needs to reduce distances with other people, gaining trust, getting personal and listening well.

Interactivity means create a dialogue with others, implementing and building upon intimacy.

Inclusion means puts everyone ideas in the conversational arena. In this way people become able to create content, acting as brand ambassadors, thought leaders and storytellers.

Intentionality means “know your aims”, pursuing an agenda.

A leader has got many key factors to use in order to make a change in other people, but talking about how a person become a leader I believe in two capability: “genius” and commitment. People have got different gifts, but it’s crucial to develop them. Along the path of leadership you will need your “genius” and, more than this, your commitment to be better and better. Only in this way you will become a real leader.