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According to Warren Bennis, there are some 850 definitions of leadership. They range from the inspirational to the operational. Leadership ranks among the most researched and debated topics in organizational science. Leadership still remains an enigma, or like Bennis says, "it's like art, you can't define what it is, but you know it when you see it."

The problem is that we have taught managers and leaders how to plan, organize, staff, lead, and control organizations based on concepts and skills from the 19th century and the necessity to organize large numbers of people for wars.

The 21st century presents us with new demands. Terrorism does not follow the rules of war and organized combat. We are being asked to carry on with our business affairs in order not to be defeated by social and economic collapse. This requires leadership at all levels.

Leaders often find themselves painfully lacking in knowledge and skill, perhaps even paralyzed with guilt, anxiety, sadness or rage and unable to devise a strategy and set of behaviors that will work in these complicated times.

Even in this 21st century, the framework of organizations is still rooted in division of labor, hierarchy, leadership and follower-ship. Leaders at every level in any organization will need to formulate and implement different strategies for survival in this new world and new economy.

The job of the leader is to get results. A leader must carve the problems into manageable tasks that can be clearly articulated and measured, and then maintain a relentless focus on achieving results through the implementation process.

Management is about coping with complexity: it brings order and predictability to a situation. However, that's no longer enough. To succeed, companies have to adapt to change. Leadership, then, is about learning how to cope with rapid change.

Leading or Managing?

How does this distinction play out?

1. Management involves planning and budgeting. Leadership involves setting direction.
   
2. Management involves organizing and staffing. Leadership involves aligning people.
   
3. Management provides control and solves problems. Leadership stimulates motivation.
   

In order to do so, great leaders inspire and motivate by holding up a guiding vision with passion; they model integrity, create trust, and boldly take risks with enduring optimism and faith.

Warren Bennis provides some basic tenants of good leadership in his classic book, On Becoming a Leader (1994). The first basic ingredient of leadership is a guiding vision. The leader has to be clear about what he wants to do, professionally and personally, and must show that he has the strength to persist in the face of setbacks and failures.

The second basic ingredient of leadership is passion: the passion for the promises of life, combined with passion for a vocation, a profession, a course of action. The leader who communicates passion gives hope and inspiration to other people.