What is Good Leadership?

What are the characteristics of a good leader?

What does durumis think a good leader looks like?

While having a one-on-one conversation, the PM asked me a question.

Upon hearing this question, the images of various leaders I've experienced flashed through my mind.
A leader who instills trust in the team through clear decision-making,
a leader who enables me to focus solely on my work through their management capabilities, and so on.

However, those characteristics didn't feel like the essence of leadership.
Because a leader is someone who sets goals for the team and guides them to walk the same path.

After much contemplation, I responded with this:
"A leader who presents a goal that excites team members and persuades them to follow."

President Kennedy's Leadership

One day, President Kennedy of the United States visited NASA.
During his visit, President Kennedy approached a janitor holding a broom and asked him a question.
"What are you doing right now?"
The janitor responded to President Kennedy with the following:
"Mr. President, I am helping to send humanity to the moon."

Wow!
President Kennedy's goal of sending humanity to the moon.
For the janitor, whose heart was moved by that goal, his work was no longer just a menial cleaning job.

The persuasive and inspiring goals presented by a leader elevate the significance of the work done by team members.
And that is leadership.

Great Goals Can Lead to Sacrificing One's Life

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Ernest Shackleton, a British explorer, dreamed of the grand goal of crossing the Antarctic.
And he placed an advertisement in the newspaper seeking individuals to join him in achieving this goal.

Difficult, low pay, extreme cold, months of darkness, continuous danger, and no guarantee of safe return. Success will bring glory and honor.

Ernest Shackleton, 4 Burlington Gardens

Is it possible to recruit people with such a candid job posting?
Did Shackleton believe he could recruit people with such an honest ad?

However, a staggering 5,000 people were attracted to this perilous job posting.
The competition rate for those who applied for the Antarctic crossing, where they had to risk their lives, was a remarkable 197:1.

A great goal, and presenting it persuasively,
in other words, great leadership, can lead people to sacrifice their own lives.

And this story resonates with the image of startups that are still striving to change the world today,
and with our own dedication of our one and only life to a great goal.

Summarizing My Thoughts

A leader is someone who sets goals for the team and guides them to walk the same path.
How can we make all team members walk the same path?

Should we monitor their every move, give instructions, and nag them?
Or should we make all decisions ourselves and have team members simply execute them?

No.
Leaders must present a great goal.
Like Shackleton, they must present a goal so great that it could lead people to give up their lives.

If team members empathize with and are persuaded by this goal,
they will walk the same path, no matter what.

Just like the janitor working at NASA.

"Mr. President, I am helping to send humanity to the moon."