Photo: Xu Yizhou

What does the word “leadership” mean to you? Cooperation, confidence, trust? Or strength, toughness, apathy? The opinion concerning this word varies from person to person. For me, leadership means the ability to convince and unite people while striving for success.

A great leader is good at convincing his followers. Only when people are convinced, can they trust you and follow in your steps willingly. Just as Confucius put it, “If the leader himself is upright, all will go well even though he does not give orders. But if he himself is not upright, even though he give orders, they will not be obeyed.” So we can infer that you can’t obtain leadership by hitting people on the head – that’s assault, not leadership. If your leadership can’t convince people, there will be no cooperation, let alone success. Good conduct, foresight or executive ability do make for leadership, but it is the convincing competence that makes them useful. If a leader imposes an order without convincing his subordinates, that is nonsense. 

Besides, with convincing competence, a team under one’s leadership will becomes unified. Unity is the basis of society. As an old saying goes, time is not as good as land, and land is not as good as people. A cohesive team will have positive energy, orderly division of labor, which will lead the team to success. Therefore, good leadership must have cohesion. It’s the cornerstone to unite your team to achieve the goals and the vital competence that a leader should have. With the power of cohesion, you can unite the team together and attract more like-minded people to achieve greater success.

Furthermore, what gives leadership depth and scope is innovation. Steve Jobs once said, “The difference between leaders and followers is innovation.”  It is innovation that pushes the wheel of an era. Without innovation, Karl Marx couldn’t have created the Communism. Alibaba couldn’t have become the biggest company in China. The lion of China couldn’t have risen in the east. Human beings couldn’t have landed on the moon. Only when you dare to break up the old rules and make innovations, can you lead the team to success.

Glimpses at the human history teach us that no historical milestones could have occurred without great leaders. Roosevelt dared to reform the economic structure to deliver the America from the economic crisis. Lenin launched the October Revolution, established the Soviet Union and destroyed feudalism. Where there is a milestone, there is brilliant leadership. Likewise, great leaders are needed so tackle international issues. The Sustainable Development Goals of our world need the participation of both adults and teenagers with sound leadership. In the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is precisely because of the excellent leadership of Xi Jinping and many leading cadres of the CPC Central Committee that China can move towards prosperity and democracy and the Chinese nation can realize great rejuvenation. As the youths of the 21st century, we should cultivate our leadership, make contributions to our motherland and lead the country to the shore of success!

From what has been mentioned above, we can draw a conclusion that leadership is hard to cultivate but it's essential to possess .Leadership is not only the sharp mind to make decisions but also the team spirit and the ability to unite people. Although the specific explanations for leadership vary from person to person, one thing will never change - leadership will ship us to the shore of success.