Leadership as Foundation for Everything

Leadership isn't just about seniority and titles. It's the foundation of everything, starting from the moment we begin working with ourselves and others. You can build leadership skills as early as your school days.

To simplify my understanding of leadership, I've developed a framework - a wedge. It begins with task-level leadership and gradually expands. We progress from handling individual tasks to taking on groups of tasks - what we might call module or project-level leadership. From there, we advance to program or larger initiative leadership, combining multiple projects. The next step is portfolio-level leadership, followed by overseeing multiple portfolios within a larger entity. Finally, we reach the pinnacle: leading multiple entities.

What evolves is the scope of responsibility, but what remains constant is ownership. People with high awareness and strong agency tend to excel in leadership because these qualities form the bedrock of action. When things get done, momentum builds, providing tangible evidence of leadership.

We often confuse management abilities with leadership skills. Management is a separate topic that deserves its own discussion.

So, how would you rate yourself as a leader?