Are Leaders Born or Made?

Leadership sets the tone for team development, and this implies its necessity in an organization. Possessing appropriate leadership skills drive a team in meeting its objectives. The means of acquiring such skills may be through nature or developmental programs. The debate on whether leaders are made or born continues to trigger many thoughts, but none has come conclusively. This paper goes through the skills required for effective leadership, and how such skills can be acquired, in an attempt to solve the puzzle of the debate. (b) Leaders are born and made. The question as to whether leadership is genetically acquired or developed remains a debate for decades evoking many opinions. Some scholars are of the idea that leaders are born naturally intelligent, charismatic, visionary, strategic and able to rally and plan for teams around them. Some believe that leadership is an ongoing experience that requires training, development, mentoring and coaching. Some are of the opinion that leaders are both born and made whereby they possess natural intelligence, which is enhanced with education, training, and mentorship. Developing a conclusive statement on this debate requires an understanding of leadership; a leader is an individual who establishes directions for a team of individuals, one who gains commitments from the team towards the established direction, and one who motivates the team to achieve the direction’s expected outcomes (Manktelow and Brodbeck, 2006). A leader needs not to exercise the three elements in a leader’s definition, in the eyes of other teams or fellow leaders. This is so because every team has its objectives and the means to attain the objectives differ amongst teams. The implication is that to fit in different scenarios or teams an effective leader needs some intelligence, which cannot be attained by learning, but that which is a talent or acquired naturally. This is important in understanding the needs of every team and fitting into the needs of every team. In a majority of cases, naturally acquired skills and abilities play a crucial role in developing ones personality, interpersonal, and motivational skills, which motivates one to lead. However, having leadership genes is not all; work experiences, education, mentorship, opportunities, and being a role model, are necessities that craft effective leadership. These are attained through learning, and from experiences. The implication is that leaders learn to lead through education programs, mentorship, experiences, and while playing different leadership roles (Kets, 2004). Successful CEOs, like Bob McDonald of Procter & Gamble, Ginny Rometti of IBM, and John C. Maxwell started with a set of the team leading skills, and associated this with furthering their skills in different colleges. Such drives, ambitions, emotional stability, and extraverted personalities may develop genetically. However, possessing such traits does not mean that these leaders are effective; they learn from experiences and challenges, which demand developmental skills. To prepare for change of roles, they require prerequisite competencies so that they can communicate, shape strategies, solve problems, excel, and have the capability to inspire and motivate others (Manktelow and Brodbeck, 2006). This, therefore, implies that leadership is acquired genetically, but requires to be nurtured if one is to be classified as an effective leader. Having leadership genes is not enough as such intelligence may not be diverse in meeting the needs of different groups. It requires nurturing, development and acquisition of skills so that one becomes flexible in coping with different personalities, and also motivates others (Kets, 2004). (c) Conclusion. Leadership is partly natural, partly nurtured and partly to self ability (Manktelow and Brodbeck, 2006). Most debaters’ in whether ‘leaders are born or made’ overlook the self creative ability and nurturing element in defining leadership. However, being a leader by nature does not make a leader. Additionally, the passion of leadership cannot be achieved through experiences, and other developmental programs; it requires a natural inspiration that comes from within an individual (Kets, 2004). Leadership, therefore, is both born and made. Are Leaders Born or Made The definition of leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Put in even simpler terms, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction (Ward). Which brings us to the most basic and most often-asked question in all leadership development, are great leaders born or made? Some people believe that leaders are born with the set of skills to become a successful leader. While others believe that leadership can be learned and developed through life. With that being said I am sure we have all been told once or more in our lives that leaders are born, not made; that leadership is about ego, and nice guys finish last (Kjerulf, 2009). Well think again my friends, leaders are not born, they are made. What makes someone a good leader is the aspect of discovery. It is the set phrase of a person at their finest whose endeavor is to change something for the better and to expand this forthcoming in others. Many individuals often get caught up in believing that leadership is based on a title or position but in reality this is far from the truth. Leadership qualities are derived by any individual who is enabled and encouraged to express themselves while working with purpose and meaning. Leadership is a process in which leaders and followers engage to achieve mutual goals. We are all leaders and followers at different times. â€Å"Followership† is not a passive role but a dynamic one: Followers ensure that the leader follows the purpose (Owen, 2002). Leadership entails the following components; passion, values, vision, knowledge, drive, and creativity. All components that develop from happiness and delightfulness in terms of something an individual enjoys, if a person is happy, you are going to seek a means to find the greatest good for the greatest number of people, making it possible for the individual to find a way to lead others to their happiness. Every individual has their own area of talent and inclination for success. These attributes, the things that individuals are passionate about, are the reasons why every one person can be a leader in their own means of enjoyment. Take for example a very quite and extroverted individual who has grown up throughout his/her entire life being an individual rather than a leader. He/she stumbles upon something they are madly passionate about, volunteering at animal shelters. In order for these thousands of animals to be saved and not euthanized, these volunteers have to find each and every animal a home within a certain amount of days. Being the extroverted individual he/she is, they reluctantly take a step back, but realize that without their strong passion and desire to lead his/her fellow volunteers; these animals will be put to sleep in a matter of no time. The simple meaning behind this example is that it is not about knowing every piece of advice on how to become a successful leader, or having the proper training, or being born with a set of skills to be able to lead; but rather it is simply about having the passion and strength to lead individuals in a subject that he/she feels so strongly about in order to benefit the most number of people.