"A good leader should not guide his/her followers, but should inspire them". Do you agree?

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I think a good leader should guide his followers as well as inspire them. A leader should give direction [guidance] as this can help followers achieve their dreams in a shorter period of time . Inspiring them will help them to persevere even when there are challenges.

Inspiration will be important in the long run. For guidance, the presence of the leader is essential. In the absence of the leader, the group will go astray. But a well inspired group will somehow tread along the pre-planned path even in the absence of the leader. The best examples for this are the followers of various religions, who still follow what their religious leaders have told hundreds of years ago.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I think a good leader provides both inspiration and guidance (and guidance doesn't not equate to control). A leader also instructs. A mentor on the other hand, may provide only inspiration.

A leader is a mentor and a mentor too can be a leader. The difference between the two is that a leader will give specific guidance while a mentor will show the various paths with their pros and cons and let the listener to choose on his own. A leader have to be a mentor at times. He have to listen to his followers issues and show them the paths to settle them. But he cannot be a mentor alone and wait till his followers come to him with their problems asking for guidance. It is the job of a leader to monitor his followers, identify when they are in need of guidance and provide it as necessary.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I agree wholeheartedly that a good leader should inspire his or her followers instead of guiding them because this teaches them to be self-sufficient and to trust that they can achieve tasks without their leader being present to supervise.

This also helps ready followers to one day take the mantle upon themselves and to pass the baton of good leadership that they acquired from their leader on to newer generations of leaders.

I see your point and you are correct. Inspiration will be important in the long run and it will be the key to make future leaders, while guidance will make an efficient but a dependant team.

But as I believe for short term goals, guidance is of more importance because in such occasions, time is a limited factor. So a leader may not have enough time to allow the followers to develop their own selves and let them to do the task in their own way in short term goals.

But, yes, inspiration will be like a bank deposit which gets increased with time, and it will make a better team as the time passes.

[Gabrielle Sigaki]

I disagree with that description of leadership. I think that a good leader should also guide besides inspiring people since, in my opinion, a leader should also show a good example to the followers.

[Marife Solito]

From my perspective, a good leader possess both of those qualities. We need a leader who will guide its members and a leader who inspire them by being the best of yourself and showing that they could be potential leaders too!

[BookBoyP]

Qualities of a good leader are not limited. Understanding your followers whilst guiding them through tough times can come in handy. Also, inspiration from a leader can go a long way in pushing the follower further than their limit. So I think both qualities complement each other.

[Chetanprajapat]

I think a good leader is leading his/her followers like family members. This book inspiring everyone because we are giving an inspiring facts about leader and also we are taking seriously like leader. According to this book a good leader is not a boss. He/she should an inspiring his followers like business partner.

I think you can read this book for unique idea about leader if you are looking for become a leader in future

Thank you
CHETAN PRAJAPAT
a learning student

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I feel a leader needs to do both. However, I think being able to inspire leads to a more productive team as they are likely to do more than is expected of them. Being able to inspire allows the team to look into paths that the leader might have missed and they are more motivated to reach the set goal.

A team will comprise of various people. Some of them can be more knowledgeable as well as more experienced than the leader. Such people can help the leader to make decisions and that will make the team work more efficient and more productive. I agree that the leader can inspire his team mates and bring this potential out from them.

But I think that the guidance part is what followers expect more from a leader. Whenever they are in indecision they will look up to their leader. In such situations the leader should be able to direct them rather than letting them to find their own ways and make their own decisions.

I do agree that in times of indecision, guidance is more important. Assertiveness and quick decision-making would be hard to come by when everyone is making their own decisions. Perhaps every leader needs to both inspire and guide, and tap into either as required.

Definitely. "Too many cooks will spoil the soup". Anyone in the team can have ideas and sometimes they can be better than the leader's ones. It is up to the leader to listen to them or not, but when it comes to decision making, there should be only one leader and one command. A leader does not have to be a dictator, but he should not loose his authority as well.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I don't think any good leaders exist. Humans are innately flawed and yes their flaws can inspire us but to say that a leader who has power and a mass of people following him/her/them hands "should" inspire us would only lead to grave disappointment.

Having a large set of followers does not make one a good leader. People and their minds can be swayed easily, and people always do not follow the correct path but many follow the band wagon. A good leader can have only a small group of followers, but such a leader will lead them to success. The best example for this are the today's politicians, who have a lot of followers that are led to failure and disappointment.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

First of all, Leadership refers to the quality of leading people. Probably, it is one of the most important aspects of life. Above all, Leadership has led to the progress of human civilization. Without good Leadership, no organization or group can succeed. Furthermore, not everyone has this quality. This is because effective Leadership requires certain important characteristics. A good leader must certainly inspire others. A leader must be a role model for his followers. Furthermore, he must motivate them whenever possible. Also, in difficult situations, a leader must not lose hope. How can a leader inspire people if he himself is hopeless?
Honesty is another notable quality of a leader. Honesty and Integrity are important to earn the love of followers. Above all, honesty is essential to win the trust of the people. Probably, every Leadership which loses trust is bound to fail. People will not work with full effort due to an immoral leader.

Well said. A leader is a person who is having (or should have) a lot of qualities that makes him suitable to rise up and lead a group. Inspiration, trustworthiness, being full of morale are few of those qualities. But all these qualities will loose their value if the leader has no confidence in him when guiding his followers. So along with all other qualities, the ability to guide the followers without any ambiguity is a must.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I agree with that sentiment because good leaders do not tell their followers what to do, they inspire them to make things better for themselves and those around them. The best example I can come up with is charitable organizations that help those in need by giving them food, housing and job skills so that they can better themselves. This applies from the boss of a small business to the President of the United States. The leader can tell people what to do or inspire them to make a change, but the person is the ultimate decision maker.

I think the scenario of providing the people in need with food, water and a job is a different one than directly leading a group. There too the charity organization or its head plays a role of a leader, but I don't think that is the leadership that we are discussing right now. Those charity organizations has no value in inspiring the ones who get the help, but they want to inspire those who have money and are willing to help for such acts. So it is a sort of indirect inspiring. And there is no need in guiding those people by the charity organization because they have no bond to the organization, but have to live their own lives.

[Sonali07 Sharma]

I disagree with this view. The leader has been chosen by his/her followers because of his thinking, activities ,his way of treating others etc. He/she has some qualities because of which he/she become a leader. The leader must guide his/her followers to do the same and must motivate them to have these qualities and follow the right path as Lord buddha did, Jesus christ did, Prophet Mohammad did ,Lord krishna did so many examples are there. If majority of people follows him/her it means that he /she has something that could change the world.

[Njokime]

I disagree. I think a leader should be able to both guide and inspire their followers. The guiding part should be approached carefully, because not everyone appreciates being told what to do.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Good leadership is a combination of guidance and inspiration. You have to show the way and set the example for them to follow.

Certainly, giving guidance allows people to know the path they should take making good use of their time. Inspiration though intangible provided motivation for staying the course even when there are obstacles.

Quite true. Though inspiration can guide at times and vice versa, this does not mean that one can replace the other. If we think about the most essential component, though it is hard to say, as per my view, guiding should come first. First of all the followers should know their path. Then only the leader can motivate them and keep them on the track. How can one inspire a team who are unaware of the task to be completed?

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I think that a good leader needs to have both qualities. He needs to be able to inspire, but in practical ways, he needs to lead and help people with their daily struggles.

A leader should look after his team mates. There is no argument about that. However he inspire them, if he does not care about his team mates' personal issues, they will loose interest in their leader as well as the course to follow. A leader should have empathy and he should be a 'human' above all the leadership qualities. When his team is out of their own problems, then the leader can guide and inspire them to achieve the target.