Leadership: Getting it done

Leaders and leadership actions are complicated, complex and hard to understand. For those reasons, the principles of leadership in voluntary setting and organizations are divided into two major sections: Leadership Principles and Leaders' Principles. The Leadership Principles describe the process while the Leaders' Principles focus on the individual. There is considerable overlap between the two categories and it is sometimes impossible to separate the Principles entirely into two somewhat arbitrary divisions. At the end of the Leaders' Principles, I address the knotty problem of distinguishing between management and leadership. The next chapter discusses the characteristics or Traits of Effective Leaders. What does it take to be an effective leader? Good listening is very much a part of being an effective leader. How to be a good listener is discussed in Chapter 4. Everyone starts out as being a follower. I make the argument in Chapter 5 that a person must be a good follower to be a good leader, that many of the same characteristics are involved in each. Finally, the community development process that is a somewhat unique type of leadership is briefly examined.