The word leadership can bring to mind a variety of images. For example : A political leader, pursuing a passionate, personal cause. An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his group to follow. An executive, developing her company's strategy to beat the competition. Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring. Yet, while leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way. Leadership means different things to different people around the world, and different things in different situations. For example, it could relate to community leadership, religious leadership, political leadership, and leadership of campaigning groups. According to the idea of transformational leadership, an effective leader is a person who does the following : Creates an inspiring vision of the future. Motivates and inspires people to engage with that vision. Manages delivery of the vision. Coaches and builds a team, so that it is more effective at achieving the vision. A leader needs to communicate in a way that makes people feel what they need to do. As a leader of a large group you have to keep in mind that people need to believe in you and know that you're behind any given message. It's not only what you say but truly what you feel and believe. This rule reminds all of us, and leaders in particular, that emotions are a powerful motivator -- or, in some cases, a de-motivator. We're social creatures who need interaction, and you use that to make points when they're important enough. When you deliver a message face-to-face, it's strikingly different than when you do some kind of mass communication. If we're going to have impact as leaders, we have a responsibility to communicate directly, eyeball-to-eyeball, and with authenticity.