Our first example of leadership

The most basic definition of a leader one learns at our first social interaction-- school-- is that of a person who determines what to do next and must be followed. We follow our teachers when they tell us to sit or stand, or learn our alphabet, or to share a toy we'd been holding with the child who had just forcefully grabbed it. After our parents, teachers are the first example of leaders in our lives, especially since being in a classroom feels like being part of an organisation as well.  The notion that everything your teacher-leader tells you to do must be followed for the benefit of the entire class (maybe at that age, we can't grasp why or how entirely) governs our early school life and threads through to secondary school. We follow our teacher and rarely question them, for they "know best".

But a leader these days is also characterised by what makes a good teacher: DuBrin defines leadership as the ability to inspire confidence and support from people who are needed to achieve a goal (italics mine), while a good teacher must inspire the same in their students to get them to buy in to the act of learning. Leadership is also getting your people to buy in to working towards a common goal, and I like how DuBrin also defines this goal as a balance of productivity, quality and satisfaction. Most leaders today just think about the first two, forgetting that the third is key to achieving them and sustaining them. Your people have to be satisfied, or at the very least satisfied with how you lead them, because that will ensure their following and dedication.