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    Are Leaders Born or Made

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    Md R H Shakib
    While some natural abilities may help, research shows leadership is mostly learned through experience. Leadership requires complex skills in motivating and directing people that are primarily developed over time through training, self-development, and experiencing different situations. While certain innate traits may give some advantages, things like intelligence and empathy can be improved upon, and great leaders have been made from many starting points. The best approach is to continuously develop one's leadership skills through learning and practice.

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    Are Leaders Born or Made

    Uploaded by

    Md R H Shakib
    203 views2 pages
    While some natural abilities may help, research shows leadership is mostly learned through experience. Leadership requires complex skills in motivating and directing people that are primarily developed over time through training, self-development, and experiencing different situations. While certain innate traits may give some advantages, things like intelligence and empathy can be improved upon, and great leaders have been made from many starting points. The best approach is to continuously develop one's leadership skills through learning and practice.

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    Are Leaders born or made

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    While some natural abilities may help, research shows leadership is mostly learned through experience. Leadership requires complex skills in motivating and directing people that are primarily developed over time through training, self-development, and experiencing different situations. While certain innate traits may give some advantages, things like intelligence and empathy can be improved upon, and great leaders have been made from many starting points. The best approach is to continuously develop one's leadership skills through learning and practice.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    203 views2 pages

    Are Leaders Born or Made

    Uploaded by

    Md R H Shakib
    While some natural abilities may help, research shows leadership is mostly learned through experience. Leadership requires complex skills in motivating and directing people that are primarily developed over time through training, self-development, and experiencing different situations. While certain innate traits may give some advantages, things like intelligence and empathy can be improved upon, and great leaders have been made from many starting points. The best approach is to continuously develop one's leadership skills through learning and practice.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Are Leaders born or made?

    This is one of the most often-asked questions about leadership.

    Research by psychologists has proved that, in the main, Leaders are „mostly made.' The best
    estimates offered by research is that leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made.

    The ability to effectively lead, motivate and direct a group of people – whether it is in business,
    sport or politics - requires a very complex set of skills, mostly acquired through experiences,
    self-development as well as access to subsequent training.

    To expect a person to be born a fully rounded, complete Leader with the ability to influence and
    direct their Team just doesn't make sense based on what we know about Group Dynamics.

    The fact that leadership is mostly made is good news for those of us involved in leadership
    development - leaders can indeed be developed. However – and this is the one third – there are
    some inborn characteristics that the great leaders have naturally which they use to their
    advantage,

    A Natural Born Leader?


    Does this mean that introverts, persons of average social intelligence, or those of us who are not
    particularly empathic will not make good leaders? Certainly not. A great leader in recent history
    - the Mayor of New York – has Leadership thrust on him in the aftermath of the September 11
    attacks for which he was subsequently honored. Remember, most of leadership is made, not
    born. So, if you aspire to positions of leadership, then the best course is to embark on a
    leadership self-development plan.
    Doing the Right Thing
    to be successful, all leaders – whatever their leadership style, type and so on - must choose the
    right action at the right time and “keep a steady eye on the ball”. They must be courageous, self-
    aware – and ensure the consistent support of their team of followers. This is a skill which needs
    to be practiced.
    Introvert v Extrovert
    Research suggests that extraverts are consistently associated with obtaining leadership positions
    and being more effective leaders. Think of Richard Branson, Winston Churchill et al. There is
    evidence that being bold, assertive, or risk-taking can be advantageous for leaders. Leaders also
    need to be smart to analyze situations and figure out courses of action.

    Intelligence is often associated with leadership. Indeed it is often considered a pre-requisite. But
    this doesn‟t necessarily mean having a very high IQ or being a member of Mensa! Often super
    intelligent high functioning humans struggle to empathize which is a critical component in being
    a great leader.
    Emotional intelligence – the ability to understand social situations and processes - is the
    component of intelligence that is important for leadership. Some sort of empathy, or ability to
    understand what your Team is feeling, is also advantageous for leaders (although much of this is
    learned).
    Lead by Example
    this may be considered a natural born quality but examples only come through experiences.
    Noted leadership scholar, Bernard Bass, noted, "The leader must be able to know what followers
    want, when they want it, and what prevents them from getting what they want."
    Never Stop teaching
    the well-known business coach, Hugo Heij says, “True leaders ensure they continue to develop
    their leadership skills throughout their careers, through learning and development materials and
    activities.”

    Fortunately, there is tremendous interest in leadership and in leader development. Self-motivated


    Leaders may consider embarking on their own leadership development programmer.

    For those new to Leadership an employer backed Leadership Curriculum programmer would
    provide a great starting point on an individual‟s learning journey.

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