Leadership is about the ability to inspire people to follow you, rather than a job title (Northouse, 2025; Greenleaf, 2013). Hierarchy may once have been enough to sustain the role but today soft skills such as empathy and authenticity are essential.  

The Institute of Directors (2024) defines leadership as “the ability of an individual to manage and supervise an organisation and to positively influence others to perform their jobs to the best of their ability, resulting in business success.

“Essentially, leaders create a vision and, through a combination of influence, communication and support, motivate a team to help them realise their goals” (Bass and Avolio, 1994; Bass, 1985). 

What does that look like within optometry? Richard Edwards FCOptom, a retired consultant optometrist and Leadership Consultant at Optomise Consulting, says: “I think leadership is a state of mind and attitude. I was lucky enough to work with properly talented leaders at Boots. The optometrists who went on to be really effective carried leadership behaviours in the way they did their job. It’s about how you do things, not what you do. 

“I think too many clinicians think of leadership as a structural, hierarchical thing, from the manager down. But the moment you are a professional clinician, your colleagues, your patients, the public look to you to behave like a leader.”

Leadership means being able to do more than just technical optometry, Richard adds. “You have to know how to manage performance – how to have challenging conversations; how to deal with a complaint; how to coach somebody to help them get better at their job. These are soft skills to sit around the core clinical competence.”