What is an effective leader?

What is an effective leader? Wikipedia, the free, on-line encyclopedia, defines "effectiveness" as "the capability of producing an effect." If someone gets a job done, regardless of cost or time, it's considered effective.

Some people think it involves evaluating the size of the leader's following. However, this can be misleading as the earlier article in Wikipedia points out. Look at Hitler for example. Millions of people followed him. His following was a measure of power rather than effectiveness.

To my mind, if something gets something done, he's effective.

I think entrepreneurs need to pay attention to their style. But what do you think about this? If you have something substantive to add, post a comment.

This is some of the stuff that will go into my entrepreneurship course. The ideas in it supply the life's blood of my professional activities: teaching, writing, and real estate. For entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot/com.

Human Capital #4--Leadership

Leadership is one of the primary qualities an entrepreneur needs. It's a component of his human capital. Wikipedia gives leadership as "the ability to affect human behavior so as to accomplish a mission; influencing a group of people to move towards its goal..." There's more on leadership in its article. If you're interested in leadership, read the whole article.

John C. Maxwell, in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Nashville, TN: Nelson Business, 1998), asserts on page 1 that "leadership is the lid that determines a person's level of effectiveness. The lower an individual's aility to lead, the lower the lid on his potential. The higher the leadership, the greater effectiveness." Maxwell goes on to argue that leadership is a skill that can be learned. An entrepreneur can learn to become a great leader. Those who are born great can become even better. Maxwell has written a lot on leadership. You should check out his stuff, it's a good read.

If this resonates with you, post a comment.

Entrepreneurship informs everything I do. For entrepreneurial real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for entrepreneurial writing, to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.hatman2.com