Leadership is one of those funny things. In saying that, I mean that there are no concise definitions for the term. The idea of leadership is somewhat nebulous. Some leaders are made, some leaders are born, some have leadership thrust upon them. I know that's not the quote, but you understand the reference.

In this five-part series, I'm not going to give you a definition of leadership. I'm not even going to try to come up with one on my own, because your idea of leadership is exactly that, YOURS. My only hope is that my ideas can help you better understand your idea of leadership.

Part 1: What is discipline, anyway? And what does it have to do with leadership?

If you ask Google, it will tell you that discipline is "the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience". Alright, well that doesn't really help (thanks a lot Google). Maybe your idea of discipline sounds a lot like this, or maybe it sounds nothing like this.

For me, discipline is really about structure. I create some structure in my life so that I'm not moving from day to day like Jell-O, sliding and shifting back and forth with no real rhyme or reason. I like to move from day to day with some idea of what is coming next. Some call this structure predictability, I like to call it control.

Many people turn their noses up at the idea of predictability and control in life. Why be predictable, you'll never have fun! But the fact is that the people who say that are the same people coasting through life like Jell-O. Sure they are having fun, doing things like going out every night or having a romantic fling for the weekend (you do you). But what are these people accomplishing in terms of leadership? Far less.

I think that using control in this context is perfectly ordinary. One must generate some control over one's life. Could you imagine a life without any semblance of control? It would be chaos! Nothing would get done, you would have no friends, and you would probably starve to death. Not good, dear reader. Think of discipline in your life as having control over what you do.

What does discipline have to do with leadership?

Alright, so we discussed that discipline really boils down to having control of your life. I think it is a very logical next step to talk about leadership in the context of control. Control is crucial to the success of a leader. If a leader has no control, one would hesitate to ever call that person a leader, and that leader would certainly never have any success. A leader in business who has no control will never generate profit or retain the best talent, nor ever create a high functioning team.

However, if a leader has too much control, truly terrible things can happen. Autocrats and dictators alike are perfect examples of this. Throughout history, leaders with too much control, often men (sadly and admittedly), have used their power to influence, coerce, and harm those who did not submit willingly. This level of control in a position of leadership is terrible on any scale. Nations, communities, and companies have all fallen victim to this type of thinking, running the lives of countless innocent people.

In light of this and in terms of leadership, control must be exercised carefully.

There is, in fact, an ideal level of control. There is an ideal level of discipline. For any person to succeed in any field, the must be able to handle and control themselves, as well as other people, to a certain extent. If one cannot control oneself, one cannot succeed in controlling a team. But if one must control every aspect of oneself, one will never succeed in a team.

The key link between leadership and discipline is the level of control which is exercised.

With the proper amount of discipline, one can control oneself as well as effectively controlling a team, thus becoming a leader. This is self-evident, like an axiom (thanks Descartes). Leaders and teams suffer from too much, as well as too little control. Ideally, a leader must be able to find the ideal level of control which allows all parties to thrive.

I cannot tell you what that level of control is, because there is no specific level. Sit and think about that a moment. Think about times in your life when you needed to exercise more or less control. None of the situations in your head required the exact same level of control, and that's why thinking about this is so important. Thinking back to these situations can be easily translated into better leadership.

When you find yourself having or lacking control in your life, think about ways in which you could change your level of control that would improve your situation. Doing this will help you become more situationally aware of your control, enable you to have a better sense of the ideal level of control, and will make you a better leader through discipline.