It’s pretty common these days to hear complaints about lack of leadership, poor leadership, and disappointment with those who are in leadership roles. In a recent World Economic Forum survey, 86 percent of the respondents reported they believe there is a leadership crisis in the world today.

But with all this talk about leadership, are we talking about the same thing? We make a lot of assumptions about what leadership means. Without a common definition of leadership, we are in danger of talking at cross-purposes with each other during the pressing conversations we need to have.

What is your definition of leadership?

You can find descriptions of many types of leadership—servant leadership, visionary leadership, situational leadership, transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, authentic leadership, self-leadership. But strip away the adjectives, and it’s not easy to find a clear definition of simply leadership.

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