What topics would you like to discuss in this group?

Sherri Leadership is a very broad, and 'popular' topic. I think to get the best leverage from this topic, would be to identify segments that might be 'discussed' sequentially, or in parallel, and then synthesized in some fashion. For example: Leadership...defining and sustaining culture (issues of ethics, people value, learning, recognition, etc. Leadership at every level....it is about impact, influence, not job title Identifying and Growing Leadership...... Short term (in it to build and sell and move on)and long term leadership ( legacy builders and keepers) Hope this is some food for thought. Rochelle Mucha

I just submitted this question for the Fast Company community - maybe it's better answered here: With the potential leadership talent shortage looming, what are your best practices in leadership development, talent mangement, and succession planning?

One more thing - I see that Leadership and Management are separated out on this site. I wrote an article on the topic, but am wondering how others differentiate the two...

My own "definition" of Leadership is that ... "Leadership is the energetic process of getting people fully and willingly committed to a new and sustainable course of action, to meet commonly agreed objectives whilst having commonly held values" If this is roughly right, then a big difference between Leadership and Management is the need to win everyone's hearts and minds, not just organize things?

I would be particularly interested in a transnational/international concept of leadership. Also, how do you sustain doing the 'right' thing in an environment where the emphasis is increasingly short term ? Devyani

The question about the definition of leadership is very general. First..Leadership can be defined from various perspectives, namely: Define what is the purpose of a leader Define the characteristics of a leader What values define a leader. Second managers (those responsible for management) have to balance their time between managing and leading

Here's a thought is leadership inherently good, evil or neutral. Can leadership be used to both lead people to great things or off a cliff?

While I agree with Cassy that leadership and management ARE different and SHOULD be separated, I disagree about the "potential" labor shortage. I would like to see refinements on how leadership is defined, ie John Gardner's definition vs Warren Bennis vs others (including my own!). I also would like to see discussion on how best to measure leadership, especially at the Director and above levels.

leaders who understand how to attract and retain talent.

I agree with Stacee. The most pressing issue facing leaders today is how to attract, retain and align quality talent. This is a perfect topic for this group, and something I hope/believe I can contribute to. All the best, Kyle

Not much new since February. Leadership in its best sense is the activity of bringing about constructive change. The impasse for most would-be leaders is how to help the follower(s) adapt to the disconnect between the values they hold and the changes that need to occur, and the stress induced by changing values. The most effective leaders get the "buy-in." What techniques work best?

I have a rather different take on how to differentiate leadership and management. I think leadership is an influence process with the aim of promoting a better way. For me, management is a much more positive force than it is for most people. I see management as getting things done through people. For me, managers can be empowering, supportive coaches who can be just as inspiring as leaders. The only difference is that leaders inspire us to change direction while managers inspire us to work harder or smarter. In my view, leadership has nothing to do with managing people or getting things done. I restrict it to influencing people to change and only that. As I see it, leadership can be shown bottom-up and by outsiders. For example, when green leaders like Al Gore promote green policies, they can have a leadership impact on companies and communities all over the world without being a manager in any of them. Similarly, when a bottom-up leader convinces top management to adopt a new product idea, senior management does not report to this person and he or she may not have anything to do with implementing the proposed new product. This means that leadership must be nothing more than an impact where one person influences others. I think our attempts to differentiate leadership and management are badly hampered by our obsession with business leadership where we focus narrowly on what it means to be the person in charge.

I agree with that - exploring the concept that leadership is actually an ability to influence, although it has to be 'productive influence' - thought leadership is being mooted around a lot recently - 'how do we lead thought' - the psychology of learning and following our intuition - these would be interesting to look into