Writers 
This principle of leadership in a nutshell is all about maintaining focus and creating positive outcomes.
The same can be applied to individuals who strive to become leaders. There needs to be focus and determination. Advice can be given, but does not have to be heeded. History is full of leaders whose beginnings were disastrous, and had they listened to the naysayers of this world, the world would be a poorer place today.
Leadership can be learned and some people are certainly born with leadership skills, but this is not a prerequisite for becoming a leader. More important is dedication to the art of leadership. Leadership involves understanding how to inspire, influence and control how people behave. It is not a simple matter of shouting, or having a deep and booming voice; or being great in physical stature; Gandhi possessed none of these attributes, but managed to lead a nation and inspire millions around the world. Sometimes, leadership may be no more than having a poignant message for a receptive audience at an opportune moment. Of itself, " leadership is neither good nor bad;" the world has known more than its fair share of evil and charismatic of dictators.
In the world of business, the perception of leadership has changed from its early days when it largely mirrored the military model of leadership from the top down, with powerful individuals dominating large groups of less powerful people.
Nowadays, leadership in business is far more knowledge driven. The lowliest employee may end up effectively leading the direction of a vast corporation through his or her innovative ideas. Anyone with critical knowledge can show leadership.
This is known as thought-leadership. In other situations, leadership can be about taking a stand for what you believe in and trying to convince people to think and act differently.
Leadership has been variously described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”, “creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen”; the ability to successfully integrate and maximise available resources within the internal and external environment for the
attainment of organisational or societal goals”; and the capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their expertise as a starting point to encourage dialogue between all levels of decision making, to establish processes and transparency in decision making, to articulate their own values and visions clearly but not impose them. Leadership is about setting and not just reacting to agendas, identifying problems, and initiating changes that makes for substantive improvement rather than managing change.
There is truth to all of the above definitions, but they all apply to the ideals of leadership.
Relationships can never improve unless problems are identified and confronted. Differences between people are inevitable, and hearing them aired can lead to some very useful resolutions that produce ideas beyond the expected. The alternative is highly detrimental: to let problems fester and build, and ruin the atmosphere in a work place, if not productivity levels.
Keys for success in working
relationships:
1. One party at least should value the
relationship: This may start off as a one way street, but this can lead to a meeting of minds later on.
2. Listen effectively, without judging : Listening in this way will promote mutual understanding and mutual respect.
3. Have informal chats: Chatting over a coffee can encourage a more frank exchange of views than meeting officially with a desk between you.
4. Create an open culture: Your team should know they can speak freely, no matter if that is to express happiness, joy, contentment, anger, irritation, sadness or fear. Negative feelings that are hoarded cause significant problems. Changing Mindsets by Empowering Others
Leaders must take responsibility for their team’s performance, which means leaders must be happy that the direction of their team is one which the leader thinks is best.
Although it is useful to have creative sessions with team members to bat around just a few ideas, the overarching goals that the team must fulfil are most often set by the leader, or some authority above the leader.
The challenge is therefore to get the team “onside” with the given aims, even when some team members may wholeheartedly disagree with them, or baulk at the idea that these have been imposed on them from above.
Despite the accepted hierarchy of any workplace, for a team to work most efficiently, its members especially higher level ones; may want to feel they are contributing more than the spade work; they may like to feel that they have chosen where some of the plots should be dug. This presents a challenge for the leader who cannot just let his or her subordinates have free play. The team must be made to feel involved.