Read almost any job description, and you will find references to leadership skills, whether the role has management responsibilities or not. But what does it take to be a leader, and how can you develop leadership skills?
The original theories of leadership centered on traits – things like intelligence, height, and charisma. At the time, researchers were studying people who were already in leadership roles to see what they had in common. Today, we think about leadership quite differently. In both research and the real world, we’ve seen that leadership ability is not just something people are born having; it’s more of a skill and a practice that anyone can learn.