Leading is influencing

A young associate asked me one evening,"Why do you keep sending me leadership quotes via SMS when I am not a leader?"  This young man is neither a supervisor nor a manager.
The word leader is a misnomer.  You do not need a title to lead people.  As John Maxwell puts it, "Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less."
If you influence a parent, you influence a family; if you influence a child, you influence a life; if you influence an employee, you influence a company; if you influence a leader, your influence their followers.
In other words, anyone who influences is a leader.  Perhaps a good question to ask would be "as an influencer am I a good leader?

Leadership and Parenthood

From parenting, one can learn some leadership skills. I asked an effective parent who had raised outstanding children on the secrets about bringing up his kids. He said, "I am guided by three principles. One, you only teach by example.  Two, by example.  Three, by example."