Flexibility and Versatility

To be a leader, someone needs to be following. To know if you are a leader, take this test. Look over your shoulder. If there is no one there, you are not a leader.

You are a leader when others choose to follow you. It is the followers who make you a leader. This requires that you have the ability to induce others to follow your lead, even in the face of changing circumstances and fluctuating needs.

To assume and retain the lead of a group requires flexibility and versatility. Flexibility is the willingness to adapt your approach to the requirements of each specific situation. Versatility is the ability to meet those requirements. Flexibility is a matter of attitude. Versatility is about skills. If you want to lead, you must be willing to change your approach with each shift in the environment and have the ability to implement the needed approach. The key to being a leader is knowing what each situation requires and how to meet those requirements. In other words, you must know what needs to be done and how to do it.