The real work of the leader: a focus on the human side of the equation

Purpose – No one would argue that leaders have a myriad of significant responsibilities. Using a premise the authors support – leadership is a people business – they aim to utilize their more than 100 years combined leadership to answer the question: what, then, is the real work of the leader? Design/methodology/approach – Narrative based on over 100 years of leadership and consultation on leadership with a wide variety of organizations. Findings – The result is the eight roles of the leader, which are as follows: collaborative developer of mission, vision, and organizational core values; creator of a humanistic work environment; developer of people, builder of capabilities; Initiator of organization‐wide communications; role model of emotional intelligence; utilizer of strategic data; consensus seeker – risk taker; change agent. Practical implications – The paper discusses each of the roles of the leader in some detail, using a model developed for this purpose. The paper does not attempt to deal with the production, product quality, financial, etc. responsibilities of the leader, only what the authors feel is the principal focus of leadership – the people. Originality/value – The authors are leaders with over 100 years combined leadership experience. Some are leading theorists and practitioners as well. Defining exactly what is leadership has been a persistent problem for researchers and theorists. Discovering how to create or produce leaders likewise has been a difficult challenge over the years. This paper provides a model that encompasses both challenges to answer the fundamental question, what is the real work of the leader?