What do most people misidentify and misapply as leadership?

Being a leader is not the same as acting as one,
and calling yourself a leader is not the same as being one.

Most executives these days are appointed into leadership positions by virtue of their technical skills, knowledge and education.  Seldom are people chosen to become leaders of an organisation because of their sheer leadership qualities and abilities.  In most organisations, ‘Leaders’ are in fact ‘Managers’ working under a leadership title. Many people in management believe that they can become leaders in their organisation or field of expertise because they know so much about the business, their extensive experience in the field, superior technical knowledge and excellent process management skills.  This is often not the case.  

To become an extraordinary leader, an executive must become a conscious leader by combining both executive management skills and conscious leadership abilities.  

Executive management skills are necessary to win credibility with the staff as a leader and with the board of governance as an executive. In this framework, executive management is not about managing the people to get things done in the business, but is more to do with taking vision and strategy to the staff. It is about managing what things get done through which people.