Are Leaders Born or Made?

For centuries people have debated whether leaders are born or made. Several decades ago researchers started trying to answer the question. The debate goes on, even though we know the answer.

It turns out to be a little of both. Leaders are sort of born and they're always made. Knowing the details will help you develop effective leaders for your company.

Leaders are Sort of Born

It seems like there's only one thing that a person needs to actually be born with in order to be a leader later in life. That's intelligence. A leader needs to be smart enough.

Effective leaders aren't necessarily the smartest people in the room or the company or even on the team. But they have to be smart enough to do the job they're assigned.

What's more important is what kind of person the potential leader is when he or she becomes an adult. The person who emerges from adolescence into young adulthood has the psychological and character traits they'll demonstrate for the rest of their life. Some of those matter for leadership.

By the time a person becomes an adult we can tell if they can help other people achieve results. That, after all, is what we expect leaders to do. We expect them to achieve success through a group. We expect them to help their subordinates grow and develop.

By the time a person becomes an adult, we can tell if they want to achieve objectives or if they just want to go along and take it easy. We expect leaders to be responsible for achieving results. You can have a marvelous life without a results focus, but if you're going to lead successfully you have to have the drive and willingness to be measured by the results of your leadership.

By the time a person becomes an adult, we can tell if they are willing to make decisions or not. Lots of people wake up every day and let the world happen to them. But leaders must be able and willing to make decisions that affect themselves and others.

By the time a person becomes an adult we can tell if they have the basic qualities that we expect leaders to have. We can determine if they're smart enough to do the job. We can tell if they are willing to help others to achieve results as a group. And we can tell if they will make decisions.

Those things are essential. People who have them can learn the multiple skills it takes for them to become effective leaders.

No matter how they measure up on the key essentials, no one emerges from the womb or from adolescence with all the skills in place to be an effective leader. Everybody has to learn the job. That's why leaders are always made.

Leaders are Always Made

Leadership can be learned by anyone with the basics. But an awful lot of leadership cannot be taught.

That's because leadership is an apprentice trade. Leaders learn about 80 percent of their craft on the job.

They learn from watching other leaders and emulating their behavior. They choose role models and seek out mentors. They ask other leaders about how to handle situations.

Leaders improve by getting feedback and using it. The best leaders seek feedback from their boss, their peers and their subordinates. Then they modify their behavior so that they get better results.

Leaders learn by trying things out and then critiquing their performance. The only failure they recognize is the failure to learn from experience.

In their book, Geeks and Geezers, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas identify the special power of what they call "crucibles." These are trials which teach hard lessons that leaders use as the basis of their strength in later crises. Many of these events can be called "failures," but leaders turn the bad situation to good by learning from it.

Effective leaders take control of their own development. They seek out training opportunities that will make a difference that will make a difference in their performance.

Effective leaders look for training programs that will help them develop specific skills that they can use on the job. Then, they when they return to work, they devote specific, deliberate effort to mastering in real life what they learned in the classroom.

Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan studied the progress of 88,000 managers who had been to leadership development training. The people who returned from the training, talked about it, and did deliberate work to apply their learning were judged as becoming more effective leaders. The ones who didn't showed no improvement.

If you're responsible for leadership development for your company, you should structure your support for your leaders to recognize that most leadership learning happens on the job. Help people develop leadership development plans. Help them select specific skills training and then work on transferring skills from the training to the job. Help them find role models, mentors and peers to discuss leadership issues.

Help your leaders get feedback from their boss, peers and subordinates. Work to create the culture of candor that will make that feedback helpful and effective.

Don't stop there. Make sure that you evaluate your leaders on their leadership work. Reward them and hold them accountable for accomplishing the mission through the group. And hold them accountable for caring for their people and helping them grow and develop.

A Leader's Growth is Never Done

Leadership learning is a lifetime activity. You're never done because there's always more to learn. There are always skills you need to improve.

Effective leaders seek out development opportunities that will help them learn new skills. Those might be project assignments or job changes. What they have in common is that the leader develops knowledge and skills that can be used elsewhere.

Effective leaders also seek out opportunities that will increase their visibility. The fact is that great performance alone will not propel you to the top in your career. You also have to be visible to people who make decisions about promotions and assignments.

If you're responsible for developing leaders in your company, set up programs to give your leaders both kinds of development opportunities over the course of their careers.

There's no magic formula for developing quality leaders in your company. But if you select potential leaders with the essential traits, then support them with training, feedback, on-the-job learning and development experiences and hold them accountable for results, you'll have the leaders you need to shape your company's future.

Wally Bock is an author, speaker, consultant and coach who helps leaders improve the performance and morale of their teams. Wally is the author of Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership and the Three Star Leadership Blog.

Leaders: Born or Made?

This is the most basic and most often-asked question about leadership. To cut to the chase, the answer is: ‘mostly made.' The best estimates offered by research is that leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made. The job of leading an organization, a military unit, or a nation, and doing so effectively, is fantastically complex.

This is the most basic and most often-asked question about leadership. To cut to the chase, the answer is: ‘mostly made.' The best estimates offered by research is that leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made. The job of leading an organization, a military unit, or a nation, and doing so effectively, is fantastically complex. To expect that a person would be born with all of the tools needed to lead just doesn't make sense based on what we know about the complexity of social groups and processes.

The fact that leadership is mostly made is good news for those of us involved in leadership development - leaders can indeed be developed. Yet, there is some "raw material," some inborn characteristics, that predispose people to be and become leaders. What are some of the inborn qualities?

Research suggests that extraversion is consistently associated with obtaining leadership positions and leader effectiveness. There is also some 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. So, intelligence is associated with leadership, but perhaps not general IQ, but social intelligence - understanding of social situations and processes - is the component of

intelligence that is important for leadership. Finally, some sort of empathy, or ability to know followers, is also advantageous for leaders (although much of this is learned). As 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."

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. 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 leader self-development plan.

Fortunately, there is tremendous interest in leadership and in leader development, and there has lately been a strong emphasis on the importance of self-development for leaders. Rather than getting leadership development from a costly program or from your employer (development/training budgets have been cut deeply by the recession), you can embark on your own leadership development program. Below are some resources for self-development, as well as references/links to the research on born vs. made.

A terrific guidebook to leader self-development is Bruce Avolio's Leadership Development in Balance: MADE/Born (Erlbaum, 2005).

Other good resources are available at the Center for Creative Leadership.

The research on born vs. made was done with studies of identical twins:

Arvey, R. D., Rotundo, M., Johnson, W., Zhang, Z., & McGue, M. (2006). The determinants of leadership role occupancy: Genetic andpersonality factors. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 1-20.

Arvey, R. D., Zhang, Z., Avolio, B. J., & Kreuger, R.F. (2007). Developmental and geneticdeterminants of leadership role occupancy among women. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 693-706.

Leadership Development - Are Leaders Born or Made?

 

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Leadership - And How do People Get It?

Ever since we started Impact Factory, Lo these many years ago, we have struggled with the whole notion of leadership. Indeed, we have resisted writing about it in much detail because the subject is so subjective.

Are there natural born leaders? Can you create a leader out of someone who isn't leadership material? And for heaven's sake just exactly what is leadership material?

However, we keep getting hired to create leadership programmes of late, so we thought we'd better put a few of our thoughts and ideas down to clarify our perspective on this whole question of leadership.

We hear organisations and companies say they have a leadership void. Or others who feel that if they only had stronger leadership everything would be all right. They obviously expect leaders to have vision and to be able to bring other people along with them - to enrol them in their strategies and plans for the future.

It's understandable; for the most part, people actually do want to be lead. Not necessarily micro-managed, but they want to know that there is someone at the helm who knows what they're doing and will let everyone know what's expected of them.

When the 'vision' word is used it usually means that someone has an idea of what the future could look like and a plan to get there. No point painting rosy, pie in the sky pictures (we'll double our turnover in a year; we'll create international markets; we'll be number one in the UK, etc.) if pie in the sky is all they are.

More like, we could double our turnover in a year, this is how we could get there, this is what I expect from everyone in the organisation to help us get there and any new ideas are welcome.

A leadership void usually means that people don't feel looked after, they don't feel seen and heard and most of all, they don't feel as though there's anyone truly in charge who knows what's going on.

So even if we haven't yet fully dealt with the question of whether leaders are born or can be made, let's look at some of the qualities needed from a leader.

There is one essential quality for anyone in any position of leadership: from running a company to running a church fete to running a home. That quality is the ability to see what is going on.

Yes, there are other qualities that are valuable: good communication, being articulate, the ability to think on your feet, humour, flexibility, integrity, compelling presence, empathy. But if you can't see what is going on, all those good qualities are going to be wasted.

Seeing is clarity. Seeing in the "wood for the trees" kind of way. To be able to see you need a clear understanding of what has made you the way you are and what has shaped and influenced your life. The clearer you are about what motivates and affects your behaviour, the clearer you will be able to see what is going on with other people.

So let's start with you. Here's a little exercise you can do. Make a list of all the people - real or fictional - who you consider role models. People who have inspired you, who get your creative juices going. These can be anyone from parents, friends and teachers to fictional heroes, movie, sport or pop stars, artists, writers, composers, fictional characters, places, paintings, etc.

How difficult did you find even thinking about that? We've asked people on leadership programmes to do that exercise and we are continually surprised when people say they don't have any role models, or they can't think of anyone who influenced their lives. They almost want to give the impression that they sprang from Zeus's head fully formed instead of admitting that many things shaped them over the years. Almost as though admitting that they were influenced is a sign of weakness, not of strength.

So first rule of leadership - you can't do it alone.

Any good leader worth their salt should be able to name 100 people, places, things, right off the bat. Why? Because they know themselves well enough to acknowledge who has supported and inspired them along the way, and what support they still need to get things done.

When you look at your list of role models, think about what qualities those people have that are attractive to you, that make them inspiring. Now, putting aside modesty, false or otherwise, think about what qualities they have that you also have. A leader may be humble (a good quality), but modesty can get in the way of being effective. You have to know who you are and accept that you have outstanding qualities - leaders are able to do that.

How well do you understand the rules, beliefs and patterns you have created in your life so far? Everyone's got 'em. They can be the simple kind of rule - you should brush your teeth twice a day. They can be the more complex kind - you should treat everyone the way you expect to be treated (you know, the do unto others type thing).

Beliefs can be things like - I believe everyone should be fair.

And patterns can be as simple as going to and from work the same way every day.

So the next exercise in the how well do you know yourself game is to make a list of all the rules, patterns and beliefs you have. We're not asking you to put a value judgement on whether they are good or bad rules and beliefs; this exercise is just to see how well you know your behaviour.

So second rule of leadership - you need to know what makes you tick.

The reason we're asking you all these questions and having you think about all this stuff, is that even of you don't think of yourself as a leader, you will have areas in your life where other people look to you for leadership. We're asking you to practise thinking like a leader.

Now we can get to the seeing bit we mentioned earlier. This is what we mean when we say that the more you know what motivates and drives you, the more you can 'get out of the way'. We've heard the following phrase from a number of people throughout the years and it's a good one - get your attention off yourself and on to whatever is going on.

Here's what you'll be able to see if you do that: you'll be able to see things from other people's points of view; you'll be able to understand what's going on for them. You'll be able to see the whole picture not just your little bit of it. You'll be able to see what other people are capable of and how to help them achieve it.

Outstanding leadership requires much more than people being really good at their jobs: it requires innovative thinking; it requires people making positive and inspiring impacts; and it requires them to be able to motivate others. What is needed is an ability to think and act 'out of the box'; out of the accepted or 'right' ways of doing things.

Leaders need to be able to identify what the needs of the future are and create a new leadership model, rather than just following the current leadership example. The culture of tomorrow will be one where change and innovation are the order of the day.

Out of the box thinking and identifying future needs go hand in hand. On some of our workshops we run something called a 'creativity workout', which is all about rule-breaking and doing things differently. The real leaders in every group we've run have had no problem breaking rules, creating a bit of anarchy, to see what else might come of it, and trying out new things.

Those who aren't natural leaders tended to get stuck at the same places time and again with the same refrain - I couldn't do that! Their own beliefs and rules about how things should be done got in the way, and they ended up not having quite as much fun either. More importantly, they found they couldn't or wouldn't shift enough of their patterns and rules to be able to ‘build a better mousetrap'.

Third rule of leadership - you can't stay stuck.

Indeed, 'can't do' is an alien concept.

That's another thing leaders do - they get things done. They have commitment, persistence, determination and resilience. Couple all of that with creative problem-solving and you have a person things happen around. What we mean, is that no matter what their personality, there will be a kind of buzz around them; things change when they're around; indeed, things might even get shaken up when they're around. It isn't always comfortable being around leaders.

Here's why. Leaders are people who don't usually follow the party line. They have an edge to them, they get up people's noses sometimes, they make decisions - lots of them - that often others don't like. They say the things that need saying in a way that others understand.

They make mistakes.

They don't mind conflict and indeed, sometimes, create it in order to resolve difficulties.

They're not always liked.

They put themselves in the line of fire.

Great leaders don't, nor should they, fit a mould. Try to cram them into one, and they'll burst out or leave.

Expect the unusual, the quirky, the non-conformist, the doer, the inspirer and you've got yourself a leader.

Creating or nurturing Leaders

So back to the question we started with. Can you create a leader out of someone who isn't? Or is just that all leaders are born that way?

There is a tendency, in our Western culture, to see Leadership as synonymous with white, middle class, male, in charge. There's a kind of unspoken template of what leadership is supposed to look like. Now we know that isn't true. Leadership can and does come in many different shapes and forms. Good leaders don't conform to a template.

However, it is important to acknowledge that people developing their leadership skills are often hampered by their picture (or other people's picture) of what a leader is supposed to 'look' like.

This is when it's important to understand that the role of leader is not only completely individual (remember, they don't fit a mould!) but also has to be worked at with belief and will and determination by the person occupying it.

Not only that, leaders will be experienced differently by the individual people they lead. One getting encouragement, another understanding. That, of course, will be due to the leader's ability to see what each person needs.

Also, not every leader is going to be a great leader in the sense that the world around them acknowledges their leader status. Many leaders get no 'public' recognition, only their personal satisfaction of a job well done.

So, to answer the question. In our view, you cannot 'send' someone on a leadership programme that doesn't want to be there and expect them to become a leader. It's not like the reluctant presenter who gets sent along to a course and finds out that it's not so bad after all. If your prospective leader isn't fully engaged in the process, sending them along to be 'taught' leadership skills will be a waste of time and money.

However, when someone has to step into a new leadership role, or there are greater expectations of how they manage people, or they've become a project leader, and they show a willingness to develop and take on new skills, then it's really possible to give these people a leadership boost.

Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When someone is committed to, and practises using their leadership capabilities at all levels in their life, then they can and will develop their own potential as a leader.

Having said all of that, there are indeed, born leaders. These are the people to whom others look, even from a very early age; they seem willing to be seen and heard, take risks, stand up for what they believe. They do have charisma, people want to hear what they have to say, they want to get things

done and bring people along with them. They're happy in the limelight (even if it's an uncomfortable place to be) and they do have 'vision'.

But even born leaders have to hone and work at their leadership skills. It's not something you 'arrive' at and that's it, you're there, a leader. Just like everyone else, to develop you have to practise, practise, practise.

Are Great Leaders Born or Made?

Some people believe that leaders are born with the necessary qualities that make them successful as a leader. While others believe that leadership, like many other similar characteristics, can be learned and developed through life. For me, I think much of the debate depends on how you define leadership.

Defining LeadershipLet’s assume leadership means having an ability and desire to inspire and influence others. Based on that definition, I can certainly see the argument that leaders are born with leading qualities when I see my daughter using her inherent ability to influence her little brother (and sometimes her parents) to do the things she wants them to do.

If leadership means being courageous and willing to speak out for the betterment of those around you, I would think that leaders do not have to be born as such. I have seen people who consider themselves introverts and overall followers become successful leaders when faced with an issue they are passionate about.

If we define leadership as having atypical intelligence, creativity and/or drive, then I am back to believing that it’s a trait you’re born with, although you may or may not continue to develop that trait through your life.

So what does all this mean?

Anyone Can Be a Leader

We all have areas of our lives where we have talent and propensity for success. If this is also an area you feel passionate about, you may exude qualities that are absent from other areas of your life. So while you may not be a natural born leader in the strictest sense, you can certainly overcome many obstacles and develop a desire and ability to lead when you are inspired to do so.Let’s look at an example.

Say you are an animal lover, and you volunteer for an animal rescue group in your free time. The group is planning a huge fundraiser but lacks the direction necessary to execute it effectively. Without a leader in place, the event is destined for failure. You may not be completely comfortable talking in front of others, making decisions for a group and managing others, but you feel so strongly about the need for the fundraiser that you are willing to overcome these challenges. With the support of several volunteers who are experienced in various areas (marketing, event planning, community outreach, etc.), and your knowledge of the group and the background of the fundraiser, you successfully manage the group and event. Possible? Absolutely.

Developing LeadershipAside from having a passion that translates into action, there are several ways you can develop your own leadership skills:

Work on improving your communication ability, especially your ability to listen to others

Be willing to take risks

Network and look for ways to expand your contacts

Focus on working and living with integrity and respect for others

Encourage those around you to find their own leadership qualities

Be confident in yourself and your abilities

Know your strengths and be ready to ask for support in areas where you are lacking

Create a vision and share your vision to inspire others

Think positively and commit to reaching your goals

Developing Leaders

How do Leaders Develop?   →

Is a leader born or made?

Posted on September 10, 2007 by Ron Hurst

Here is a question that is bound to stir up debate. Well which is it?

Even the theorists cannot agree. Some say it can be taught and judging by

the  1.8 MILLION hits leadership development gets on Google, many would

agree.

My take may appear to be a cop out, you see I believe that leaders are

born…and made.

In fact I will go a bit further. I believe almost anyone could be a leader if

they chose to and would pay the price of admission.

So what do you think? Born… Made… or both

This entry was posted in born vs. made, leadership development. Bookmark the permalink.

How do Leaders Develop?   →

6 Responses to Is a leader born or made?

1. LeaderInTraining says:

September 18, 2007 at 2:40 pm

It is my opinion that leaders are made and born.

Born leaders seem to have the desired skill set naturally in their thought

process like a person that can play music by ear without ever having had

one lesson. These born leaders are come in various levels such as the

informal leader in a group. Born leaders are often start off as recognized by

a group of which they are a member as the “alpha” and are bestowed

leadership by the other members in the group. From this point, born leaders

further develop into future leaders hopefully acquiring the knowledge to

become effective.

Made leaders often come to exist through experiences and often start as a

manager but develop into leader. The path to leadership is not always first

clear to these individuals but rather develops through circumstances and

the desire to succeed. The made leader usually has the ability to be flexible

in order to learn the skill set necessary to become an effective leader.

2. Pixelhead says:

January 23, 2008 at 2:57 pm

Certainly some individuals are born with more leadership traits than others.

The charisma that enables a natural born leader to become a world leader, I

believe is not something that can be learned.

3. Ron Hurst says:

January 23, 2008 at 7:08 pm

Hey Pixelhead

I could not agree more, some are born with more inherent leadership ability

than others. Charisma that elusive something that makes some leaders so

magnetic is definitely not something that can be faked or learned. But then

this is but one aspect effective leaders can leverage.

Great comment!

Ron

4. asma says:

May 10, 2008 at 8:16 am

in my opinion leaders are made not born

because to be a good leader you need more knowledge and different skills

so when you do all these things you make your self by yours

5. asma hamed al-siyabi says:

May 10, 2008 at 8:32 am

Hellllllllllllo every body.

Leaders are Always Made

Leadership can be learned by anyone with the basics. But an awful lot of

leadership cannot be taught.

That’s because leadership is an apprentice trade. Leaders learn about 80

percent of their craft on the job.

They learn from watching other leaders and emulating their behavior. They

choose role models and seek out mentors. They ask other leaders about how

to handle situations.

Leaders improve by getting feedback and using it. The best leaders seek

feedback from their boss, their peers and their subordinates. Then they

modify their behavior so that they get better results.

Leaders learn by trying things out and then critiquing their performance.

The only failure they recognize is the failure to learn from experience.

In their book, Geeks and Geezers, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas

identify the special power of what they call “crucibles.” These are trials

which teach hard lessons that leaders use as the basis of their strength in

later crises. Many of these events can be called “failures,” but leaders turn

the bad situation to good by learning from it.

Effective leaders take control of their own development. They seek out

training opportunities that will make a difference that will make a difference

in their performance.

Effective leaders look for training programs that will help them develop

specific skills that they can use on the job. Then, they when they return to

work, they devote specific, deliberate effort to mastering in real life what

they learned in the classroom.

6. Ron Hurst says:

May 11, 2008 at 6:30 am

Asma

Warren Bennis is one of my favorite leadership authors. The book you

mention Geeks and Geezers is fantastic. You have done a fine job of sharing

the core story of the crucible. WE are tested by fire and those that stand the

test and learn from it will be far better leaders for the effort. well said.

Are leaders born, or made?

Both- with the right business tools

        Are leaders born, or made? Is leadership a function of nature, or nurture?

       The answer is both. Some people are born leaders. But which ones? And how will they

show their leadership colors unless they are placed in the right environment?

       These questions are at the heart of strategic leadership planning for most companies, large

and small.

       If you don't have a contingency of leaders on staff and others primed to step up into

leadership roles, you will undoubtedly find yourself way behind the pack. Nurturing leaders

takes more than luck or intuition.

The right tools for the job

How can your company identify a leader? Not by a resume or an interview. Research shows that

98% of resumes contain some form of fraud, deception overstatement or misleading claim.

       Most employment interviews are cosmetic and can be manipulative. You may already have

many leaders within your company but don't recognize them as such. In some cases a

company leader will surface only during a crisis. The key is to identify these leaders before a

crisis occurs. Any employees with leadership potential who have not been identified for their

capabilities early on have been cheated out of using all of their talents. Conversely, the

employer has lost a huge opportunity to benefit from those talents.

Creating leaders requires an effective system

         Today, employers are looking for a more systematic means of identifying leaders to play

key roles in their companies.

       "You can have a vision, but if you don't have the road map or the tools you can't get where

you want to go, and you can't lead. Managers need leadership tools that give you the facts, with

clarity," said John King, president of the statewide Roster Network, an alliance of professional-

services firms. When King talks about clarity he's referencing several systematic leadership

tools including Activity Based Costing and Activity Based Management, ISO/QS Certification

and Business Efficiency Testing. All of these systems provide the employer with the clarity to

better understand where their business is going, or should be going. Another tool, called the

Position Matrix, provides a clear picture of what employees are doing (or should be doing)!

  Beyond visionary charisma

         "Leadership is more than being a visionary and having charisma," King said. "After you

share your vision and show off your charisma, then what? You need tools to identify leaders,

train them and hold them accountable."

Many companies encounter problems because they lack performance measurements and

documentation on which to base key leadership decisions.

       "Some companies are selecting people based on subjective criteria and throwing them into

assignments with little direction and no accountability. That's like the sand-lot baseball games

we played as kids," King said.

Just as in sports, business teams that select the best players and give them the best tools will

win. It begins with tracking your progress against your competition.

Keeping score with Business Efficiency Testing

         Do your local competitors pay more than you for raw materials? How long do they wait for

payment from vendors, vs. your own cash flow? Do they pay higher or lower salaries than you?

These answers can be obtained through Business Efficiency Testing, a process that gathers

competitive cost data to give you a benchmark for your own company's performance.

       "The data is easy to obtain and can be priceless," King said. For example, if your

competitors are getting a better deal from the same suppliers, you'd like to know that. Likewise,

if you are underpaying or overpaying people in similar jobs, you need to know that too.

Tying employees' goals to their supervisors' goals

       So Business Efficiency Testing is a good way to keep score and step out of Sand-Lot

Business. Another tool is the Position Matrix, which provides employees with clear job

descriptions and ties their performance goals to the goals of their supervisor. "That's crucial.

When every employee is working on goals consistent with the goals of their supervisor,

throughout the organization, you've got real momentum to get things done," King said. "That's

how you make a vision a reality."

       The process also has built-in performance mechanisms to identify potential leaders and

give them goals to demonstrate their potential. The system is at work in literally thousands of

companies today and has been continually refined and enhanced.

       There will continue to be a lot of Sand-Lot Businesses in the future, but for business

leaders to stay competitive, it will take a lot more than making decisions on the fly. It will take

empowered employees with phenomenal leadership skills, and the winners will be the

companies that have the better tools!

Nature vs nurture: Are leaders born or made? A behavior genetic investigation of leadership style  Keywords:

 leadership style, behavior genetics, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, heritability 

  Abstract

With the recent resurgence in popularity of trait theories of leadership, it is timely to consider

the genetic determination of the multiple factors comprising the leadership construct. Individual

differences in personality traits have been found to be moderately to highly heritable, and so it

follows that if there are reliable personality trait differences between leaders and non-leaders,

then there may be a heritable component to these individual differences. Despite this

connection between leadership and personality traits, however, there are no studies of the

genetic basis of leadership using modern behavior genetic methodology. The present study

proposes to address the lack of research in this area by examining the heritability of leadership

style, as measured by self-report psychometric inventories. The Multifactor Leadership

Questionnaire (MLQ), the Leadership Ability Evaluation, and the Adjective Checklist were

completed by 247 adult twin pairs (183 monozygotic and 64 same-sex dizygotic). Results

indicated that most of the leadership dimensions examined in this study are heritable, as are

two higher level factors (resembling transactional and transformational leadership)derived from

anobliquely rotated principal components factors analysis of the MLQ. Univariate analyses

suggested that 48% of the variance in transactional leadership may be explained by additive

heritability, and 59% of the variance in transformational leadership may be explained by non-

additive (dominance) heritability. Multi-variate analyses indicatedthat most ofthe variables

studiedshared substantial genetic covariance, suggesting a large overlap in the underlying

genes responsible for the leadership dimensions.

 

Blogging Innovation

Leaders – Born or Made?Leaders: born or made? While there is a very simple answer to this question, most people are so

entrenched in their beliefs that no amount of reason or logic will alter their opinions. But that’s never

stopped me before…so for my part, I would actually like to put this useless debate to bed once and for

all. So, what’s the answer? Both – some people are born with innate qualities that predispose them to

being leaders, and other people while not naturally gifted with leadership ability can acquire it.

Moreover, all leaders, born or made, can improve their ability with desire, experience and effort.

If we’re to be honest with ourselves, as opposed to defending a particular position to suit our needs,

we’ve all known born leaders…They are those affable individuals that posses charisma and presence

combined with the ability to make good decisions that people have flocked to since an early age. They

were your class presidents, team captains, club leaders, and the people who held virtually all the

available leadership positions you can imagine early in life. They were those unflappable individuals

that seemed to just have that “it” factor. They were the born leaders we all grew up with.

Before we move on, and as a caution to those who are natural leaders, natural ability will only take you

so far. Leaders who rest on their laurels without making the effort to develop their skills will eventually

be overtaken by those who view leadership as a professional skill to be developed and refined. As they

old saying goes, “it’s not what you’ve been given, but what you do with it that matters.” Every person

has to decide for themselves whether they’ll be an underachiever or a person who excels, and since

you’ll be judged for your choice, my suggestion would be to choose wisely.

Moving on, we’ve all also known individuals who while perhaps not naturally gifted leaders, either fell

into, or accepted leadership responsibility, and worked diligently to develop themselves into highly

effective leaders. Leadership acumen can most certainly be taught, and it can also be ingrained in

those willing to put forth the effort. You see, the only things that keep someone from becoming a

sound leader are a lack of character, effort and desire. If those three qualities are present, everything

else can be developed. I’ve personally witnessed the shy and introverted develop presence, the greedy

become giving, the arrogant develop an authentic sense of humility, the foolish become discerning and

wise, people who struggled with decision making learn solid decisioning skills, individuals who lacked

domain expertise acquire it, people who were ego centric transition into servant leaders and the list

could go on…

Bottom line: It is not how a leader comes by their skill that is relevant. It only matters that they

possess the requisite skills for the job, and that they are willing to apply those skills for the benefit of

those they lead. Remember that there is no perfect leader, no single right way to lead, and no one-

size-fits-all formula for leadership. Let’s stop wasting time debating whether leaders are born or made,

and focus on how to help them be better leaders regardless of how they arrived.

Are leaders made or are leaders born?76rate or flag this pageTweet this

BY TRUEXPRESSION

The age old question. Are leaders made or are they born? My belief on this – I believe that a leader is made, not born. Why do I say that? Before going further, lets be clear on one distinction – when we say a leader is made, it does not mean that someone can be taught to become a leader by attending leadership courses. While it helps, it is not enough. Warren Bennis (a leading leadership researcher) believes that one cannot be taught to become a leader but one can learn to become a leader over the years through life and work experiences, through mentors, personal reflection, etc.What is a leader by the way? For the purpose of this discussion, lets define it as someone with formal leadership authority in an organization. There is another form of leadership which is not about the position, but a quality, but we will not delve into that for now.

Marcus Buckingham wrote a very interesting and widely informative book called “The One thing you need to know… about Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success”. It’s a great read – I highly recommend it. In it he proposes that a leader is born, and not made because of two characteristics which are only peculiar to leaders. These 2 characteristics are innate and are part of one’s personality and therefore, one cannot learn to develop such character traits.The first trait is optimism or having an optimistic outlook, always focusing on the possibilities. With this disposition, one believes that challenges can be overcome and they can forge ahead.The second trait is what he calls ego or self-assurance. Another term that comes to mind is self-efficacy. A person with this trait has a strong belief in himself. Self-assurance is not the same as being optimistic, although you can see that being optimistic helps and reinforces one’s sense of self-belief. What is important to note about self-efficacy is the belief that one can control one’s destiny, not whether one actually can or is successful in controlling what happens. Even if he doesn’t have the answers now, he believes that he would be able to overcome the problem, by marshalling whatever resources, creativity and connections available to him. Theconfidence comes from within and he truly believes that come what may, regardless of what life throws at him, he is able to handle it.

Are leaders born or are they made?

The question is, are these 2 traits really innate and cannot be developed? Marcus Buckingham believes so but I beg to differ. I believe that we are not only highly adaptable and flexible, but have the potential to do anything if we set our minds to it. Sure, genetics play a part and you can’t change that, but what’s more important and makes the difference in our long-term success & accomplishments is our mindset.

The research of Dr. Carol Dweck lends strong support to this. People with a growth mindset (versus a person with a fixed mindset) believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. Dr Dweck proved that they’re wrong. This is another book (it’s called Mindset) that I highly recommend because it truly has the power to change the way you look at yourself and others!So, what this means is that qualities like optimism and self –efficacy can be developed if one adopts a growth mindset. For example, if I’m aware that I am not optimistic enough and tend to think of the downside more often than the upside, I can learn to become more optimistic because I know doing so helps strengthen that leadership trait in me. As a side point on the topic of optimism, evidence from decades of research by Dr Martin Seligman shows that people can learn to be optimistic. The topic is examined in great depth in his bestseller "Learned Optimism” – another excellent book I would recommend as well.

In summary, I would reiterate that while there are natual born leaders, leaders can indeed be “made” or developed if one adopts a growth oriented mindset.

 

MASTER OF ARTS IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIPLEADERS: Born or Made?

The State of Leadership Theory and Training Today

Daniel E. Maltby, Ph.D.

Are leaders born or made? This question continues to dominate the study of leadership today. Volumes of research have been written. But there is little to no conclusive evidence either way. The topic of leadership remains elusive.

However, some of the contributing factors or origins of leadership have become clearer with 50 years or more of study. While no predictive model exists, we know something about "what leads to leadership."

One difficulty in discussing the topic is definition. Burt Nanus and Warren Bennis report some three hundred and fifty definitions of "leadership" that leadership researchers have generated over the last thirty years. Jay Conger follows John Kotter's lead by defining leadership with three dimensions:

Leaders are individuals who establish direction for a working group of individuals, who gain commitment from these group members to this direction, and who then motivate these members to achieve the direction's outcomes.

This definition is broad enough to allow for a wide variety of leader behavior. For example, setting direction can range from establishing strategic direction for the corporation to setting daily production goals for a team or individuals. Secondly, a

leader need not exercise all three elements to be a leader in the eyes of others. Leaders can be found all over organizations fulfilling one or all of these roles.

Developing some clarity about the "born-or-made?" debate is essential to a discussion of leadership training. The current consensus is that it is both. In a majority of cases, genetics and early family experiences play the significant role in developing the personality and character needs that motivate the individual to lead. They also contribute to the development of the intellectual and interpersonal skills necessary to lead.

But the majority of researchers today believe that the origins of leadership go beyond genes and family to other sources. Work experiences, hardship, opportunity, education, role models and mentors all go together to craft a leader. An important assumption in this theory is that the raw material essential in people in order to lead is not scarce. The lack of needed leaders is a reflection of neglected development, rather than a dearth of abilities.

Current research suggests that experiences on the job play an important catalytic role in unlocking leader behavior. There seems to be no substitute for learning through doing, making mistakes and improving with time. Kotter surveyed two hundred executives at highly successful companies and interviewed twelve individuals in depth. He concluded that early in their careers his leaders had opportunities to lead, to take risks and to learn from their successes and failures. He specifically identified the following as important developmental opportunities: (1) challenging assignments early in a career, (2) visible leadership role models who were either very good or very bad, (3) assignments that broadened knowledge and experience, (4) task force assignments, (5) mentoring or coaching from senior executives, (6) attendance at meetings outside a person's core responsibility, (7) special development jobs (executive assistant jobs, (8) special projects, and (9) formal training programs.

From these studies certain types of work experiences emerge as the primary developmental forces behind leadership. For example, challenging and multi-functional work assignments taught self-confidence, toughness, persistence, knowledge of the business, skill in managing relationships, a sense of independence, and leadership. Hardship taught personal limits and strengths, while success bred confidence and an understanding of one's distinct skills. Diversity in experiences developed breadth and different bosses modeled values and taught key lessons. This mix set the stage for leadership ability to take hold.

Opportunity cannot be overlooked. Frequently circumstances beyond all of the players' control led to opportunity for leadership to emerge.

Thus, leadership must still be understood as a complex equation of birth and early childhood factors, shaped by later life experiences and opportunity.

Conger and others in the "leadership is learned" (to some degree) school see opportunity in two lights. There is the opportunity of unforseeable circumstances mentioned above and there is the opportunity that can be designed and managed by those responsible for leader development. But he cautions that the best designed programs of leadership development - whatever their structure or intensity - are contingent on the motivational desire of the candidates. It appears that many gifted leaders choose not to lead when given the opportunity. The price is too great, the timing not right, the rewards too small and they settle for something else.

Elements of leadership can be taught. But to be successful, training must be designed to (1) develop and refine certain of the teachable skills, (2) improve the conceptual abilities of managers, (3) tap individuals' personal needs, interests, and self-esteem, and (4) help managers see and move beyond their interpersonal blocks.

The leadership training programs now available throughout the U.S. (and the world) can be broken down into a similar four emphases. Each of the leading companies providing leadership development seems to emphasize one of the following four factors over the others (though all tend to include some aspects of the other three as well): (1) leadership skills development, (2) conceptual thinking, (3) personal growth experiences, or (4) feedback.

Biola University's M.A. in Organizational Leadership is designed to incorporate all four of these leadership development emphases while it focuses on those elements of leadership that can most effectively be taught in a highly dynamic university setting.

 

“All bosses are   leaders .” “ Leaders   are   born , not   made .”

“Leadership is management’s job.”

“All bosses are leaders.”“Leadership? That means having to pick up theslack that results from everyone else’s mistakes.”“I don’t need to be a leader. I’m not in charge.”

“Leaders are born, not made.”ver heard these? Or perhaps even said them yourself ?You’re not alone. It seems like everyone has something to sayabout leadership – even if what they’re saying is based on misunderstandingand misconception.Sometimes we accept ideas as facts and let them rule our heartsand our behaviors without taking the time to really think aboutthem. And so when we hear people saying this or that aboutleadership, we may be tempted to just accept it as the truth. Andthat’s unfortunate, because leadership is something we all needmore of in our lives … in our workplaces, our families, our communities,and our country.So what is leadership? Leadership is the behavior we exert whenwe take responsibility for our actions and their consequences. It’sthe voice within us that calls out and says, “Take charge!” It’s thechallenge we face when we assume responsibility for guidingothers. Leadership is often the difference between success andfailure. It’s what separates the doers from the observers. And it’swhat gives direction to individuals and organizations.

Without leadership, we are lost.

EDespite the old adage, the truth is that leaders are made, not born.Leadership is developed by learning and refining a set of skills –skills that anyone, including you and me, can learn and develop.You may be asking, “Why me? Why do I need to be a leader?”Because deep down inside, we all want to make a positivedifference in our lives in ways that make our world a better place.After all …What’s more important than helping others do a good jobat work and getting enjoyment from it?What’s more important than teaching others about thebusiness so they (and you) will be more successful?What’s more important than following through on yourcommitments to the people with whom you work?What’s more important than setting a good example forothers to follow including your coworkers, your friends,and your children?What makes a good leader? Ask a hundred different people, andyou’ll probably get a hundred different answers. But one thing’sfor sure, almost all of the attributes commonly cited for aneffective leader have one central theme:

Another truism is that leadership is not justmanagement’s job, it’s everyone’sresponsibility regardless of birth, education,income, or position.nnnn

working with others.180 Ways To Walk The Leadership Talk will give you practicalideas and strategies to lead yourself and others for the benefit ofthe group, the team, yourself, and your business.You will discover six important things that all leaders do:

Listen and Learn from othersEnergize the organizationAct for the benefit of everyoneDevelop themselves and othersEmpower others to leadRecognize achievement.

Under each of the L.E.A.D.E.R. headings, you’ll find a numberof action-oriented behaviors that you can implement yourself, orshare with people around you. These behaviors will enable you toturn good intentions into action, and in the process, bring out thespecial leader that’s inside of you.My hope is that 180 Ways To Walk The Leadership Talk will beyour guide to creating, implementing, and living the leadershipexample in your work life and in your personal life.

Read on.Lead on!LEADERExample is leadership.– Albert Schweitzer

Forbes India - Are   Leaders Born or Made ?

Are leadership qualities innate or acquired?

The above is a question that has obsessed many leadership scholars over the years and is often posed by

executives in development programs. Here’s our response – it’s a bad question, which begets bad answers.

As many decades of leadership writing shows, this is a question that cannot yield a satisfactory response, especially

for aspiring leaders.

Understandably, the line taken by management educators tends to be that most leadership qualities can be

developed, given adequate amounts of key personal characteristics, notably intelligence and physical energy. But

the fact is that you do not know what you are born with until you try very hard to express it. 

So why do executives even concern themselves with this question? Often, it is to gauge their own leadership

potential; sometimes, to determine that of others. 

Yet “born or made?” is a bad a question for such assessments because it gets executives focused on the wrong

topics – such as which dispositions are fixed and which behaviors are amenable to change.

Actually, the question illuminates little, as it fails to deal with a basic point, namely the degree of responsibility

sought. 

What level of leadership responsibility does the person aspire to? The highest levels of leadership responsibilities

present tasks that are massive, complex and conflictual. The playing field, the boundaries and the rules become less

certain. Indeed, it is the leader’s job to shape these choices.

Also, the further executives advance in leadership, the more they must deal with high-caliber people who know how

to get what they want, who are difficult, strong-willed and who have a sharp appetite for power. 

For executives trying to assess their leadership potential, we propose instead three critical questions.

Question 1: How far do you want to go? 

To reach higher office and to fulfill the obligations of higher office, you must continuously make choices that will affect

other people’s money and lives. And you will be doing this in a context where other people will want your position or

will be competing with you for the next higher role. 

It is easy to criticize the competence of those with greater responsibilities than ourselves, and even easier to

fantasize about how we would do it better. 

Many people who aspire to senior leadership simply underestimate the degree and kinds of effort required to take on

those responsibilities. 

A useful exercise: Look at your immediate boss’ job and honestly ask if you could do it as well, or better. Then,

stretch even further and take the most senior leader in your line of sight – perhaps the CEO – and educate yourself

about what that person must deal with. 

Get a feel for the gap between how you spend your time and the time, energy and capabilities required to do those

jobs. What would it take to be CEO of your company? What would you have to do that you now cannot do, or do not

enjoy doing? What do you enjoy now, but would have to give up?

We see too many executives who set themselves up to fail by lack of valid assessment of the role they are pursuing

in comparison to their true capabilities. 

Question 2: What are you willing to invest?

Aspiring leaders can delude themselves about their strengths and the extent of their limitations.

The realization that you have significant limitations can be hard to digest. But if you are serious about wanting to lead,

you face tough choices about how much effort you must put in and in which areas – in order to grow the capabilities

that enable the exercise of extreme responsibility.

The work of leadership certainly requires business smarts, technical capabilities and cultural sensibilities, but above

all, it is about power. While this point is upsetting to some people, the brutal reality is that whatever else a leader

must do, a leader must gain, exercise and retain power. We meet too many “high potentials” who aspire to high

leadership, but are used to rewards for being bright and creative. This breeds a sense of entitlement that is

incompatible with the necessity to fight for leadership power. 

While it has bad connotations for some people, the appetite for power is a necessary condition for reaching positions

of high responsibility.

Also, there will be pleasures that you must give up. Certainly, there will be implications for aspects of your personal

life – raising questions not so much of “work-life balance” in the short-term but rather of finding a “workable mix” over

the long-term. 

And there are constraining beliefs to overcome that limit your capacity to see things as they actually are, and to

generate new behaviors. As a leader you must take people where they have never been before – in thought and

action – often against their initial preferences. But until you let go of the hooks that tie you to your own past, you won’t

be able to go new places either. 

Question 3: How will you keep it up?

Over several decades, you need methods to keep yourself going when you are not being recognized and rewarded

for your performances – and to deal with criticism, resistance, setbacks and people disliking you or what you are

asking them to do. 

The assessment of the costs of leadership is not a one-off event. 

If you envisage another 10, 20 or even 30 years of leadership work, then you must find effective methods for

maintaining your physical vitality, your emotional flexibility and your intellectual reach and freshness.

As they do the hard work of leadership, many people become more closed and set in the ways that have brought

them success so far. So periodically, senior executives must create time-out to review where they are investing their

time and energy, to ensure that they remain capable of generating new behaviors to deal with new challenges. 

Management educators might be right that leadership is learnable. But instead of taking comfort in the idea that you

can develop, you should take fright at how much work there is devising methods for managing novel situations,

indeed extreme circumstances. 

The most significant leadership question is not “born or made?”. The important questions are: what are your current

assets and what are you willing to do – or to sacrifice – to attain leadership at the highest level you can?

Preston Bottger is Professor of Leadership and General Management at IMD. He teaches on the following programs:

Leading the Global Enterprise (LGE), Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) and the Program for Executive

Development (PED).