Leadership is all about influencing others to achieve certain goals. In support of this statement, I am quoting here three definitions of leadership from three famous books on management:

• “Leadership is the process of influencing a group of people for the achievement of their goals” - Robbins & Mary 

• “Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal” - Kevin Kruse 

• “Influencing people so that they will contribute to the organizational and group goals.” - Weihrich, Cannice, & Koontz 

Please note that the terms “influence” and “goals” are common to all three definitions of leadership. There are many other definitions, each emphasizing various aspects of leadership. However, the terms “influence” and “goals” are common in most definitions of leadership. 

Renowned leadership scholar Gary Yukl states regarding the various definitions of leadership, “Leadership has been defined in terms of individual traits, leader behavior, interaction patterns, role relationships, follower perceptions, influence over followers, influence on task goals, and influence on organizational culture. Most definitions of leadership involve an influence process, but the numerous definitions of leadership that have been proposed appear to have little else in common. They differ in many respects, including important differences in who exerts influence, the purpose of influence attempts, and the manner in which influence is exerted.” 

Thus, we can conclude that leadership involves the influencing process to achieve organizational goals. This is because organizational managers coordinate and oversee the work of other people to ensure the achievement of organizational goals. To do this, they require influencing skills so that other people can display the desired behavior in organizations. 

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