What Is Leadership

What is leadership? According to the business dictionary leadership is “the act of leading a group of people or an organization. Leadership involves establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders. A leader steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught, although it may be learned and enhanced through coaching or mentoring.” To lead you must first be willing to study, endure, pursue, and develop yourself. A leader will lead even if they do not have the title; they lead based on their particular strengths.

A great example of leadership is the movie Avatar. Avatar is about a paraplegic ex-Marine, Jake Sully, whose brother is killed in a robbery. Prior to his brother’s death he was assigned to a space program on Pandora. Pandora is an alien planet and a hostile environment for humans. Pandora is inhabited by prehistoric animals and the Na’vi. The space program consists of taking the DNA of the Na’vi and mixing it with human DNA to create an avatar. Jake Sully was not trained but he was chosen to replace his twin brother because they had very similar DNA. The space program and wanting to integrate with the Na’vi people is the passion of Dr. Grace Augstine, however the space program is funded by RDA a company that funded the space program so that they can mine the precious material scattered about the land. RDA is run by Parker Selfridge and he hired Colonel Quaritch to be head of security. They recruit Jake Sully to spy on the space program and to convince the Na’vi to leave their homeland so that they can mine the precious material in exchange for his spinal surgery so that he can walk again. While getting acclimated to his Avatar, his life is saved by a Na’vi named...