Three Questions that Can Shape Your Leadership Journey
One of my greatest passions is music, and not long ago, I watched a documentary titled It Might Get Loud. This film explores the history and evolution of the electric guitar, focusing on the careers and distinctive styles of three iconic guitarists: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White. It showcases their unique approaches to playing and recording, offering a compelling insight into their artistry and the way each interacts with their instrument in their respective environments.
Watching the documentary made me reflect on the discipline of leadership and leadership development. Two key themes particularly stood out to me:
Firstly, the documentary didn’t attempt to define what makes a ‘great’ guitarist. Instead, it celebrated the diversity of styles and the individual contributions each musician made to the craft. While they all shared certain foundational skills, how they applied these skills differed significantly.
Secondly, each guitarist had embraced their own uniqueness. They understood their strengths and limitations and used the tools and resources available to them in distinctive ways to create something extraordinary. For example, Jack White leaned heavily into the blues during the hip-hop era, while The Edge took a different path, rejecting the blues and instead embracing effects like echo and reverb to shape his sound.
In a New York Times article, the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, explained, “This isn’t an analytical film. This isn’t a film that’s trying to catalogue anything. This film is about a path… These guys are trying to find their voice, and how do they do that?”
This idea resonates strongly with leadership. Like music, leadership is defined by what you do and how you do it—but not all leadership looks the same. Context matters, and efforts to create a definitive list of leadership qualities or attributes are often flawed. Attempting to define what makes a ‘great’ leader is as futile as trying to establish a single definition of what makes a ‘great’ guitarist.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t learn from the wealth of research and insights available on leadership. But while precision in leadership is valuable, there’s unlikely ever to be a simple, universal answer to the question: “What makes a great leader?”
Increasingly, I’ve come to see leadership not as a set of prescriptive capabilities or attributes but as a response to three fundamental questions:
What am I being asked to do?
What do I bring that will help me succeed, and what might hinder me?
What actions can I take to leverage my strengths, manage my limitations, and improve my chances of success?
Of these, the first question—What am I being asked to do?—is often overlooked in conversations about leadership. Yet it’s critical. It defines the context within which a leader operates, and context and leadership are inseparable. The priorities a leader must drive and the qualities they need are shaped by their specific environment. Different contexts demand different capabilities, experiences, and personal attributes. A leader who thrives in one domain may struggle in another. This may explain why some leaders succeed in one role but fail in a different setting.
The importance of context in leadership is not a new concept. Theories such as Fiedler’s Contingency Theory, House’s Path-Goal Theory, and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model have long explored this relationship. However, these theories often imply that effective leadership is simply about adapting or moderating one’s approach to fit predefined scenarios. While adaptability and agility are undoubtedly valuable traits, they don’t fully explain why some leaders excel in certain situations but falter in others. Nor do they account for the reality that leaders frequently face multiple, conflicting priorities and contexts simultaneously.
This brings us to the second question: What do I bring to the table? While this question touches on self-awareness, it goes beyond that. It’s about recognising the interplay between who you are and what the context demands. What strengths can you leverage? What behaviours or traits might get in your way?
Finally, the third question is perhaps the most pragmatic: What can I do to improve my chances of success? Leadership involves embracing the expectations and responsibilities of the role. If we choose to lead (and leadership is always a choice), we must commit to continually addressing these three questions.
From a leadership development perspective, the focus should shift. Instead of trying to define what makes a great leader, we should equip those stepping into leadership roles to answer these three critical questions. This approach not only acknowledges the diversity of leadership but also helps leaders navigate the complexities of their unique contexts.
By focusing on these questions, we move closer to a more personalised, contextualised understanding of leadership—one that empowers individuals to find their own path, just as those three iconic guitarists did with their music.
by Mark Busine