In today's business world organizations must strive to have a competitive advantage over other organizations. The advantage could be a technological advantage, or a product that competitors do not have, or anything that gives the organization an edge over competitors. Another competitive advantage that an organization may have could be employee motivation and leadership, which will help the organization achieve its goals and improve the aspects that prevent the organization from achieving its goals. When employees possess these two aspects, they could help the organization succeed in many ways, but to understand how these two aspects could help the organization we need to know what they are and how we can promote them within the organization. Leadership is defined as “influencing” individual and group activities aimed at achieving objectives”. Hersey, Blanchard, and Johnson (2007). and motivation is the “willingness to work to achieve organizational goals” by Hersey et al. (2007). These two concepts go together and are extremely important for an organization to achieve its goals. When an organization has employees who are leaders and who are motivated; it could be a competitive advantage over competitors. “Leaders impact our daily lives and our future. In good times and bad, there is always a need for strong leadership. The success of a company or industry is determined by the leaders it chooses or inherits.” Winterton (2002) For many years there has been extensive research into leadership, but there has been no evidence of where leadership comes from or how to achieve it; while many think that people are born with characteristics and skills that make that specific person a success... middle of paper... happy and motivated employees to work and be part of that specific organization, that knowing in a few days is difficult to maintain.Works CitedWinterton, J. (2002, April 30). What is leadership?. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/firstyear/casestudies/20020430-leadership.pdfJoelle, J. (2010, April 12). Lead and motivate – yourself and your team. Retrieved from http://virtualnetworkresellers.phoneplusmag.com/articles/lead-and-motivate-yourself-your-team.htmlHersey, P., Blanchard, KH, and Johnson DE (2007). Organizational behavior management: directing human resources. Prentice hallZidle, M., (2011, April 14). Re: Employee Motivation: One size does not fit all. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/blog/supervision.Dessler, (2011) G. Supervision and leadership in a changing world. First edition, Prentice Hall