By Jihane Labib
Originally published in Le Matin Emploi on January 12, 2015

1. What Is Leadership?

In a business context, a leader isanyone—man or woman—who successfully unites others around a shared purpose,brings meaning to their daily work, and keeps their inner motivation alive overtime.

A true leader has the ability to inspire, tohelp others dream, and to guide the way forward—whether launchinga startup or leading the rollout of new products or services.

To be recognized as a leader by their community,one must embody the “3 Cs”:

• Competence: The ability to mobilize knowledge, skills, and behavior to     deliver meaningful outcomes.
• Credibility: Trustworthiness, consistency between words and actions, and     experience-backed authenticity.
• Courage: The willingness to take risks, navigate uncertainty, embrace     change, and energize others through resilience and clarity of purpose.

2. Is Leadership Innate or Can It Be Learned?

According to research, genetics may account forabout 49% of the traits typically associated with leadership. However,life experience plays an equally important role.

Modern personal development practices—especiallyover the past decade—have shown that leadership can be cultivatedthrough learning, coaching, and real-world application. This challenges theoutdated “Great Man” theory popularized in the 1800s by Thomas Carlyle, whichclaims that leaders are born, not made.

In truth, leadership is a dynamic, evolvingpractice, fueled by self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and adaptiveskill-building. It’s no surprise that leadership development has become aglobal industry, with growing interest from both researchers and practitioners.

3. What Is Leadership Coaching? Why Is ItValuable?

Leadership coaching is not about creatingsuperheroes. It’s about empowering individuals to lead with purpose,emotional intelligence, and effectiveness—while helping others find meaning intheir work.

Leadership coaching helps leaders to:

1. Evolve their leadership presence with authenticity and intention
2. Develop a unique style that sets them apart
3. Understand the essence of impactful leadership, beyond titles and tasks
4. Manage perceptions and inspire others to follow voluntarily
5. Reflect on daily challenges, learn from them, and make wiser decisions

A coaching partnership allows the leader to stepback, adopt a 360-degree view, and anticipate the ripple effects oftheir decisions across systems, teams, and stakeholders.

When aligned with the organization’s strategicpriorities, leadership coaching becomes a high-leverage development tool,targeting:

• Competency growth
• Personal influence and interpersonal     effectiveness
• Strategic thinking and emotional awareness

Prerequisites for effective leadership coachinginclude:

• Deep understanding of organizational dynamics     (psychosociology)
• Business acumen and top management experience
• Solid coaching expertise and ethical grounding

4. What Tools Does a Leadership Coach Use?

A professional leadership coach draws from a widerange of tools and frameworks, including:

• 360° feedback assessments
• Emotional intelligence mapping
• Values clarification and alignment exercises
• Strategic reflection models (e.g., SWOT,     stakeholder mapping)
• Real-time scenario planning and decision     impact modeling
• Behavioral coaching anchored in ICF core     competencies
• Visioning and narrative leadership frameworks

Each coaching program is personalized tomatch the leader’s context, style, and goals.

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