Friendly Leadership

Friendly Leadership: Humanely influencing others to seek positive, mutually rewarding outcomes.

There are many definitions of leadership and some authors devote pages to parsing the differences among them. Instead of doing so, I am stipulating the brief definition shown above. It is clear and simple, and it contains a moral component often missing in leadership definitions. It emphasizes humane behavior and mutually beneficial results; thus, logically ruling out criminal activities, as well as legal, but crass, self-interest. Leadership can be examined from an amoral perspective, as did Machiavelli, but I won't be doing so, here.

Also, "to seek" indicates goal-oriented behavior, without stipulating success. One can lead well, but still fail. Success often depends on the resources and obstacles encountered along the way, variables perhaps well beyond a leader's control. It is important to acknowledge that serendipity often plays a critical role in group achievement.