Recently, I came across an outstanding definition of leadership. Professor Homayoun Khamoosh of the George Washington University Business School defines leadership and the responsibility of a leader as follows:
Leadership is the ability to turn vision into reality. The leader’s first responsibility is to define reality, and the leader’s last responsibility is to say, “Thank you.” Between these two responsibilities, the leader is a servant. Before becoming a leader, one must achieve personal growth. After becoming a leader, one must achieve the growth of others. One must be able to lead others to be a leader. So what does a leader lead? A vision. Vision is the leader’s navigation system. The great achievements of outstanding leaders have always begun with visions, both large and small. However, if a vision ends as nothing more than a dream, the owner of that dream is merely a dreamer, not a leader. The ability to turn a dream into reality is leadership. Leadership includes a variety of personal and technical elements such as perseverance, social skills, planning ability, communication, management competence, and delegation.
A person who lives in reality yet cannot dream beyond it is not a leader. But to realize that dream, one must thoroughly recognize reality. A leader rejects both pessimistic despair about reality and groundless optimism. A surgeon operating on a patient pursues a vision of the patient’s healthy state that transcends present reality. Yet the surgery undertaken to reach that ideal must be firmly grounded in the diseased reality. Without a correct diagnosis, healing is impossible. The leader’s first responsibility is to define reality. An organization sets its direction and charges forward based on the reality that the leader has defined.
The leader’s final responsibility is to say “thank you” to the members who have journeyed together. There is nothing a leader can do alone. Even in the smallest unit—the family—there is nothing one can accomplish entirely by oneself. Without the cooperation of members, achieving goals is impossible. Members do not cooperate with leaders they do not trust. To earn trust, one must cultivate character, not merely technique. Yet not every person of character is a leader. Leadership is the ability to lead people on the foundation of character. After drawing cooperation from everyone and achieving the goal, the leader’s final task is to sincerely say “thank you” to all who helped accomplish it.
When, at that moment, the leader seems to fade into the background in the hearts of the members, allowing them to celebrate and say, “We achieved this through our collective strength and effort,” such a leader has reached the realm of true leadership. This demonstrates that the leader was not one who ruled over others, but one who served them. Khamoosh defines a leader as someone who consistently serves members, from fulfilling the first responsibility (defining reality) to completing the last responsibility (expressing gratitude).
What is the prerequisite for a leader? Growth. A leader leads today based on yesterday’s growth. But without growth today, one cannot lead tomorrow. In other words, those who do not grow cannot lead, and leaders who stop growing unknowingly lose their leadership and fall behind.
What, then, is a leader’s success? It is making others successful. Using others to achieve one’s own success and accomplishments is not only shallow leadership, but in reality, it does not work. One or two deceptions may succeed, but if a leader continually exploits others, no one will fail to notice. People join organizations because they are inspired by a vision, but they leave because they are disappointed in people. Leaders who exploit others are ultimately abandoned by their members. The completion of leadership lies in making others successful. Without growth, there can be no success. Therefore, a leader’s true success lies in helping others grow.
I was genuinely impressed by how clearly, concisely, and accurately a business school professor grasped the essence of leadership. The original text is even more succinct: