Leadership is a big deal.

Employers and recruiters need to have leadership on the mind when hunting for new talent. Will potential candidates be able to grow with your company, take on more responsibilities, become leaders? How can you foster leadership in them? How do you know if they're ready? Are they a Cyclops (Middle management at its finest) or a Wolverine (Reluctant to lead, but born ready!)? A Batman (So moody, but inspires you to do better) or an Iron Man (Let's hope not!)?

Doctor X is, of course, my favorite example of leadership. He knows how to foster creativity, initiative and drive from his team. This is, of course, in part due to his mind-reading abilities, but I'm sure he also honed many of these skills by reading this blog.

In today's Link Love we've rounded up some great articles about leadership. How to do it well, how to foster it in others, how to lead better office meetings.

The HR Bartender wrote a very insightful answer to the question of how to foster leadership in employees who are reluctant to move into a leadership position.

And then there are those we wish were a little more reluctant to become leaders.

"Real leadership serves as a talent magnet – not a talent repellent".

According to Mike Myatt, if you can’t acquire talent, can’t develop talent, or can’t retain talent, you are not a leader. Harsh, Forbes, harsh! But as one bad leader can wreak some serious havoc on an entire business  (also see Iron Man 2 for an example) sometimes it's got to be said! Myatt also uses the terms chicanery and skullduggery, so harsh or not, you gotta love him!

Some people should be leaders. If you have these qualities and characteristics of a great HR leader, then I applaud you! If not, then I hope, like me, you work for people that do!

I also hope that they know a good leader encourages their employees to play Farmville. Okay, not exactly, but Dr. Todd Dewette makes a great point about increasing productivity by encouraging autonomy and fun! I prefer the use of office dance-parties to Angry Birds competitions personally, but that's because a little physical activity also increases productivity... And it doesn't get much more fun than watching one's colleagues drop it like it's hot!

Last but not least, great leaders have great ideas! Steal this one, and make your office meetings a thousand times more productive. The rules are very blunt, but make perfect sense. How Batman would run a meeting : "If you're not getting anything from it, leave" — preferably with some cape flourishing and smoke! Although I recommend against leaving your colleagues tied up in a damp, Gotham warehouse for your managers to find.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, as far as my leadership skills are concerned, I'm totally a Storm. Take from that what you will.

Storm out.