First, what is leadership? Many people have attempted to put a definition to that question over the years. One great author, John Maxwell, in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership described it this way:
"....leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.....True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can't be mandated. It must be earned."
In the book, Launching a Leadership Revolution - Mastering the Five Levels of Influence, Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward give this as a definition:
"Leadership is the influence of others in a productive, vision-driven direction and is done through the example, conviction and character of the leader."
Now all three authors agree on one thing, leadership is influence, but Brady and Woodward add more to it which makes a big difference. Leaders have to show their followers by example and have the conviction to give belief to them. Most importantly they added that the leader has to have character. Character to do what is right no matter the cost to the leader. In a world after Enron this facet of having character as a main trait to leadership is what makes all the difference in the world.
To lead, realize that you must always be working to improve your character and that it cannot have a price. Character development is always a work in progress which everyone can afford to work on.