Someone recently said to me that the goal of being a leader was to train people to be at least as good as yourself. Well with all due respect (and I do have a high level of respect for that person), I disagree. If that is "the" goal then it implies leadership is based on a persons capabilities/skills in a particular field. However I suspect the General of an army is not the best sniper, tank driver, unarmed combatant, etc. Nor is the CEO of a bank the best financial expert. Nor (ideally) is the prime minister/president of a country the best policy maker, politician, orator.
So why are these people the leaders? Well simply put because they are the best "leaders" ie I believe leadership is a skill/gifting in and of itself. Therefore in any organisation the role of a leader is different to the roles of those being led.
So what is the goal of a leader? To draw out the best in the people being led to achieve a particular goal/vision. A general's role is to make his soldiers into better soldiers, in whatever field, to win a battle or a war. A CEO of a corporation aims to produce experts who can provide strong growth (financial or otherwise). A head of government draws the best policies out of their executive to improve their nation. A head master develops the best educators who in turn produce the best students. And so on ... you get the idea.
If we take on this view of leadership then we understand that the role of a leader is to serve those whom they lead. The leader is to develop/draw the best from their followers who in turn will deliver the results to achieve the vision. Once we understand the why of leadership, then we can better work on the how-to of leadership (and there are a multitude of books, experts, opinions on the subject).
One final thought: everyone follows someone and everyone leads someone - at the very least we should be leading our own lives. Most of us will also have families, friends, work colleagues that we also lead in some aspect. We should be aware that our role is to serve these people, to draw the very best out of them that we can.
