How to turbo-charge your growth

Beware any traditional thinking about leadership that may be limiting your view of yourself as a leader. The out-dated story is attacked by these writers:

The illusion is obstinate and enduring: A mortal is seemingly anointed by the gods, typically at the moment of conception, and is stamped with a unique gift that allows him or her to lead others. This person shines irrepressibly, and other mere mortals are compelled to follow. As prevalent as this notion is, it is demonstrably false, and any person who has seriously studied leadership has found that it is not a predetermined affair. Many of the most significant shapers of history were themselves shaped gradually, not ready to make an impact on the world until time and the crucible of experience had first performed their duties. Leadership can, and often must, be learned by those who would hope to practise it.
Warren Bennis

The old model of leadership had a functional focus, one without regard to the emotional or personal dimension; people were seen as interchangeable parts. Such impersonal leadership increasingly fails today. Resonant leaders shatter the old leadership mould that was cast in the image of the captains of industry, those old-fashioned lead-from-the-top figures of authority who led largely by virtue of the power of their position.
Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee