A conductor leads with simple gestures to a group of professionals, each with specialized roles and talents, to a melodious culmination that fills the ears and hearts of many. Creating harmony is complex, yet his gestures appear simplistic. Like a conductor's outward actions leadership behavior should be simplistic. However, the topic of leadership in the business marketplace is tainted with complexity. With the current leadership calamity it is time to revisit basics.

Leadership is prevalent subject matter in the range of media and educational resources including past and current news, college courses, workshops, seminars, books, articles, research studies, and more. At this writing there are 293,880 books on the topic listed in Amazon.com. Even the list of theories and types of leadership continues to grow each year. There is no question that the matter of leadership ability is important. Leaders' actions impact people and organizations around the world.

Despite the work of those experts who make it their vocation to study or create the intricacies of leadership, we are headed toward a progressively worsening view of leadership ability. It is disconcerting to note that we are not hitting the mark.

Employee engagement is negatively influenced by inadequate leadership. For example, many pharmaceutical companies have extensive resources. This can breed waste and dysfunction at the expense of customers. At one big pharmaceutical company there was a regular group of employees who spent each morning in the cafeteria having their bacon, eggs, coffee, and other breakfast items. Their daily routine was eating and commiserating about lack of challenge in their jobs and not being selected for interesting projects. They were disengaged. Some would be seen meandering around campus on a sunny day discussing who knows what. The cost of medications is prohibitive. Who is responsible?

A study conducted by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and U.S. News and World Report yielded these disturbing findings. "70% of Americans think that our country is in a leadership crisis. Public confidence in leadership within the education, religion and business sectors is low and getting lower."

So-called leaders are just not getting it. Examples are rampant in today's news about greed in the banking industry, the demise of the auto industry and more. We need more good leaders. However, questions about leadership have been pondered for years perpetuating a cloud of perplexity.

What qualities and how many must a good leader have? This question appears to be a tricky one with no resolution. Some sources seem convinced that they have the absolute answer, i.e., "The Top 10 Leadership Qualities - HR World; Seven Qualities of a Good Leader; Do you have it in you? Eleven Qualities of Good Leadership ...; Inspiring Your Life: Four Most Important Leadership Qualities of ..." This information is no more helpful than having a goose that leads V-formation listen to lectures on the importance of inspiration.

There is no shortage of theoretical frameworks that attempt to address questions about leadership. A few from a generous menu include: "Great Man" Theories, Contingency Theories, Situational Theories, Behavioral Theories, Participative Theories, Management Theories, Participative Theories, Situational Leadership, Stewardship. Despite all the fuss we still seek better leadership. Concocting more conceptual theories is pointless. Creating more complexity and mystery is not the solution, but merely a distraction from the need to return to fundamentals of leadership that motivates employees.

Another common question often posed by educators and other experts, is still debated after many years, "What's the difference between a manager and a leader?" It is a ridiculous question of semantics. It doesn't matter what the difference is, as leaders exist at all levels of an organization regardless of titles in HRIS systems.

"Are Leaders born or learned?" There is still no clarity on this, and there may never be. Consider charisma. Does not having the divine ability to inspire enthusiasm, or affection in others by using personal charm mean that I will never become a great leader?

There is no need for ongoing research for rhetorical questions that perpetuate such bewilderment. Instead, capturing how such qualities such as charisma is manifested behaviorally opens new possibilities and hope for those who lack such amorphous qualities.

Like an orchestra conductor, actions matter over words. Convolution is not the solution. Though, this view might be unpopular among the providers of leadership products and 'solutions' in the marketplace, if we really care about developing good leadership we would pay attention to those who offer behavioral solutions.