Assumptions of leadership

Everyone has the right, responsibility, and capability to be a leader.
This first assumption of leadership sparks me to think deeper about leadership and what it means. At first glance I thought that I was not sure I agreed with this assumption as it implies that everyone should be a leader. To dig deeper, I decided to revisit the meanings of the words.

According to Merriam-Webster, the word lead means:

a. to guide on a way especially by going in advance
b. to direct on a course or in a direction
c. to direct the operations, activity, or performance of


To be a leader one must guide the way especially by going in advance. To do this, one must know where they are, where they are going, and what they are doing. To effectively guide someone, the leader must know how to speak the same language so to be understood. To have someone follow means that they are coming with you, not being carried by you and not just pointed in a direction. I would argue that not everyone who knows where they are and where they are going can be a leader if they do not know how to guide someone. On the same line, not every subject matter expert is a teacher, if they can not effectively explain their concepts to someone else. Part of being a good teacher is being able to guide or lead others through understanding. It sounds to me like a leader is essentially a good teacher. I agree that if someone is a good teacher then they have the right, responsibility, and capability to be a leader.