Fake Leaders

So I'm sitting in Starbucks when this teen walks in with a duck. It caught my attention through the barista's glass divider.  I didn't know if he was doing an AFLAC promotion or what.  But through the laughter of customers I realized the duck was a puppet.  It got me thinking about leaders.  

There are a lot of fake leaders out there, people who hold positions of authority, but who really don't know how to lead. They lack vision, fail to organize people, and pursue status quo.  At the same time, there's a lot of fake leadership training out there, books, programs, and events that are called leadership, but that teach any number of other things such as good citizenship, character, service, and self-esteem. People often refer to these things as if they are leadership, but at the end of the day, much like the duck, they don't teach us what leaders do differently than non-leaders and they don't distinguish what it means to help people accomplish together, what they cannot as individuals.  
When push comes to shove, a lot of people "duck" the issue of what constitutes true leading and authentic leadership training.  We believe it's worth clarifying.