Based on a request from a reader, I posted on the topic of leadership over at my 21Publish blog. I guess I would add that while leadership may stem from having vision, finding a person’s personal style of leadership may not stem from vision. It’s not like making red wine where one may set out from the get go to develop such and such spicy-type of red Zinfandel or a Syrah/Cabernet blend. To develop my style of leadership, I found that I needed to first become aware of my underlying style. It then became a lifelong craft to hone that style.
But in another sense, leadership may be like wine making. One can’t just set out to make "wine". Similarly, you can’t just say that I want to make a "leader". If you are going to try to make a leader, at some point you need to have a more refined model of what you want to make.
Update (7/28/05): Andy adds on to this thread and refers to some prior posts he’s done on leadership that are also good.