Growing up in a small town, I hung out with guys who roamed the streets doing what bored teenagers do which often got us into trouble. Being too young to drive, we hoofed it wherever we went. Occasionally we’d do something serious enough to upset a neighbor who’d call the police. The wailing sirens sent us scurrying in different directions.

Being on foot was an advantage only if you could run fast. Since running was not my strong suit, the men in blue frequently nabbed me before I could get away.

I’d been caught so many times, that the cops thought they had the gang’s leader. When they sprung this accusation in front of the juvenile judge, I was dumbfounded. “Wait a minute,” I protested. “I’m not a leader, just the slowest runner.”

Later on, while in the Navy, I was frequently placed in leadership roles because of my physical stature and boisterous nature. Apparently, they wanted leaders who were large and loud.

Those earlier experiences combined with what I’ve discovered since then, lead to the conclusion that leadership is not easily defined. The following pithy quote from the highly acclaimed book, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, (Bennis & Nanus, 1985), makes my point:

Decades of academic analysis have given us more than 350 definitions of leadership. Literally thousands of empirical investigations of leaders have been conducted in the last seventy-five years alone, but no clear and unequivocal understanding exists as to what distinguished leaders from non-leaders, and perhaps more important, what distinguishes effective leaders from ineffective leaders….

Undeterred by this discovery, the authors added the 351st definition to the pile with this catchy phrase: Managers do things right, leaders do the right things.

It didn’t stop there. Since 1985, dozens of gurus have added their “unique” perspectives on leadership. I don’t know of a subject that has more expert opinions.

Sadly, companies are wasting an enormous amount of time, talent, and treasure on single-strategy leadership programs that focus on the position rather than the purpose.

Regardless of how leadership is defined or what the role of a leader might be, getting the job done should be the ultimate objective. What strategy or theory is applied when someone steps up to lead is less significant than that person’s ability to bring people together and get them moving in the right direction.