How do I know I am leading?

As I read more and more about leadership, I keep coming across a common thread. If you are to be a leader, you need to have followers. Granted. However, why are they following? There has to be a genuine reason why people follow. Sometimes, it’s because the leader is in a position of power, and those around him/her have to choice but to follow. Is it managing then? Personally, I want people to follow me because they want to – not because they have to.
In my 12 + years of working in industry, I look back at the times that I’ve led local teams and global teams and wonder: “Did they follow me because they wanted to? Or… Because it was their job?” More than likely, it was the latter. But, then again, I was more of a manager than a leader.
What do I mean by that? Well, just doing my job… telling people what to do, what needed to be done and hold them accountable to a schedule no one understood. Sounds great. Get the job done and take all the credit. Is that real leadership? Not really. It was the team’s efforts that made it happen. Only after supporting everyone else’s efforts and helping them be successful can I really be successful.
Next time I have the opportunity to lead a team, I promise to not just manage. In fact, I read somewhere that you can be both a manager and a leader. And I am going to believe it for the time being. Since I have had the opportunity of managing projects, I want to improve my leadership skills. How? I intend to provide my team with a clear vision of the goals, support their needs and take responsibility and ownership of getting everyone to succeed - together. I will make sure everyone knows how important their efforts are, understand their needs and support them as much as possible. My goal is not to make everyone happy, but to be fair. Obviously all decisions are made in the best interest of the team, but some will not agree – and that is fine. As long as I am consistent, maintain integrity and respect everyone, only then can I hope they will follow me because they want to.
I know I must have missed something. But it’s a start. I would really like to hear from you to understand what has motivated you to follow someone because you wanted to. What manager's attributes made you feel like doing more than “just my job”?.