reflections on leadership vs management

yesterday I had the priviledge of attending a full day of discussion on leadership, hosted by the Waikato Management School.

The University has a real focus within the management school on ''leadership'' as the star quality required for business success.  We heard from Jenny Shipley (a compelling speaker who gave some really practical takeaways), Ray Avery (NZer of the year, what a guy!), and Graham Henry (who spoke of the 'team'' aspect of leadership

I spent much of the day furiously writing notes, and trying to absorb all they had to say.  Here's some of the key points I came away with

- sometimes we need to hit rock bottom to have an ''aha'' moment and be galvanised into taking the lead on a project
- when someone says IT CANT BE DONE, the response should be: OK so how do we do it then
- the importance of a supportive partner/wife/husband cannot be underestimated. Great leaders need this.
- leaders are the ones who say ''i can make this happen'' rather than ''someone should do something about that''
- a good leader empowers their team - every person in the team is a leader in some way and needs to be supported in to being the best they can
- leadership evolves and sometimes admitting mistakes, or becoming more flexible is better than having a specific style
- leader have commitment, courage,  and curiosity (I'll vlog on this bit another time).
- leaders are the ones who create the vision that allows other people to manage the outcomes

An inspiring day, which left me wondering, if leadership is where it's at, why is the WMS not called the Waikato Leadership School....