How you identify leadership

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

You don't look at the leader, you look at those being led.

If the troops are wandering around in all directions, demoralized, no common sense of what the mission even is, fist-fights breaking out in the ranks, some brazenly fraternizing with the enemy...

Well, it suggests a problem.

And, no. I don't have a practical solution. Leadership is partly made up of intangibles... it's not something you can just do. "Hey you! leader up some, wouldja?" You probably don't suddenly become a leader one day, though it may happen sometimes.

I'm just frustrated.

[Forkboy]

1. I look for whoever wears the biggest hat.

Ok, upon further review, maybe not....

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. Hats matter. The tallest hat equals the top-ranking person.

On the other hand, the widest hat...

[Cleita]

3. If you are talking about leaders who don't have a captive following,

like brass in the military, teachers in a classroom, or corporate CEOs. I define it as anyone who can convince the largest segment of a population to work together. So a good leader will convince people that he is right and it will be the majority of people in any demography. That doesn't mean that he's a good guy. Hitler convinced many people to follow him in his dark ways.