Debunking some leadership myths

We have all come across myths in one area or another. A myth is a misrepresentation of the truth. In most cases, this misconception has been spread so far and wide that most people believe it to be the truth. 
Last week, we discovered that in fact we are all leaders because according to the law of influence, “the true measure of leadership is influence nothing more nothing less”.  
It follows, therefore, that if we want to be good leaders we need to work on our leadership ability which will improve the results we get which will also increase our influence among those who decide to follow us.
This week, let us debunk some of the misconceptions held about leadership. The first one is that leadership and management are the same. 
This is a big myth for sure because in my view, one is a subset of the other. All leaders are managers but not all managers are leaders. 

This is simply because as we have articulated above, leadership is all about influencing others while management is more about ensuring that systems and process that have been designed are in fact operational and can be used to generate results. 
You may have seen managers who refuse to change with the times and reason that this is how we have always done things. 
These are the people Eric Hoffer referred to when he said, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists”. 
These managers have their work cut out for them if they want to make it on the list of leaders.

The second myth about leadership is the position myth, most people like I used to be, think that leadership is based on position. 
You may have come across people who will say “that is beyond my pay grade”. Such people forget that as they refuse to get out of the box, they have volunteering entered into, they are only doing themselves more harm than good. 
In his book the 5 Levels of Leadership, John Maxwell begins by reminding us that “leading is a verb and not a noun”. He then states that “leadership is a process not a position”. In future we shall look at these five levels in detail.
The final myth I want us to consider today is one that purports that all entrepreneurs are leaders.  We know that entrepreneurs are people who tend to be creative, take huge risks and go where others fear to go. They are usually visionary and fit Jonathan Swift’s definition of vision which is “being able to see what is invisible to others”.  
As a result, they may take huge financial risks with the hope that this will result in financial gains. In today’s world, the list of entrepreneurs is growing by the day with people as young as six jumping onto this bus. 
However, even though the risks they take may at times bear fruit, not all entrepreneurs are leaders. As stated above leadership is a process. Entrepreneurs need to always remember that they are lessons to be learnt from experiences encountered which they can then put to use to influence others.
Finally, it is worth stating here that there are many other misconceptions that people have about leadership. 

The work is ours to do to remember what leadership is and to allow ourselves to engage in the process that will grow us from where we currently are to one where our leadership is revered, and then we can reproduce other leaders. 
In order to do this work,                let us reflect on these questions:
1. What myths have I been holding about leadership?
2. Knowing what I know now, what steps am I going to take to learn more about what it entails to be an effective leader?

Wamambe is a transformational leadership coach with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team    [email protected]