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While everyone can be a leader, not everyone will become one. For one, you can’t really have all leaders with no followers. Secondly, not everyone wants to lead. One of the most common discussions about leadership is how someone becomes one.
Are leaders born or made? Is it only possible to have natural-born leaders, or do some transform into an authority worth following over time? The author of this sample essay reflects on these questions.
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Are Leaders Born or Made
We all have one or two people that we look up to because of the way they influenced or led us. A lot of us attribute it to their character and integrity, others to their personality, and some to their competencies.
One of the questions that got me thinking deeply was, “Are leaders born or made?” Are there some people who are simply destined to take lead because of simple genetics, or can anyone achieve greatness in this world?
After spending a bit of time ruminating on this question, I have come to the conclusion that leaders aren’t born, but made. I believe that anyone and everyone has the capacity to be a successful leader. In this essay, I would like to share some of my thoughts on this matter.
Leadership potential is not the same as leadership skills
If a person does not fit our box of what skills those in leadership positions must have, we easily write them off as better followers. But my response to that is this: we need to differentiate what it means to have potential versus having the actual skill set. Sure, there are people who are naturally gifted with certain personal qualities that make them natural leaders.
However, when you think about it, not everyone who falls under this category wants to lead. It is still, at the end of the day, a personal choice and conviction. I believe that in each one of us lies potential waiting to be developed. When we willingly step out of our comfort zone and say yes to growth, then this potential can slowly be honed into actual skills. In the same way, we all have gifts that can be turned into skill sets that are fit for leadership positions – it’s just a matter of us being willing to go on that trajectory.
A successful leader is the product of his choices, not his genetics
I believe that a natural leader is “natural” in the sense that he has allowed his gifts to be developed into abilities, making him truly fit for the role. There is no born leader because no one is born great. Like I said earlier, everyone is simply born with different kinds of potential. Great leaders get to where they are because they have made wise decisions out of their life experiences. Sure, some may have a slight edge in that they have specific traits and inborn characteristics that may more convincingly skew their journeys toward leadership. But at the end of the day, moving forward is the result of the ability to make decisions, not one’s DNA.
Leadership qualities, emotional intelligence, and new skills can be developed
Under the mentorship and influence of good leaders, a person can develop the necessary personal characteristics and self-confidence to lead himself and others well. Learning under good management is a good way to motivate someone to maximize his or her potential. Through life and work experiences, people can become effective leaders. They slowly build intelligence and influence over those in their own sphere and identify a vision for themselves. They slowly discover that leading others is not just about task-oriented behavior, but about being able to translate vision into strategy and concrete action.
There are various leadership styles, not just one leadership approach
Many of us have a stereotype of what authority looks like. When someone doesn’t quite fit into this category, we dismiss them as people who are not leadership material. However, if we learned to acknowledge that different strengths mean different styles of leading, then we will identify a lot more people around us who have been leading all along. They don’t have to be the head of an organization or one of many titled managers. Leadership is not a title, but a way of life. Some of the greatest leaders never had a title under their belt. They were just incredibly good at directing and influencing people.
True leaders take action instead of riding on someone else’s legacy
Some people mistakenly assume that if someone is the child or direct relation to a great leader, then it must mean that he or she is destined to be an authority figure based on that relationship. In business and in life, this is the worst assumption we can make. Not only are we setting that person up to possibly fail, we also make a false statement that influence is inherited. An effective leader does not necessarily have greatness thrust upon him or her, but launches himself or herself towards greatness. He or she does this through action, making choices, and taking calculated risks in the hope of bearing fruit for themselves and others.
Leadership development can be done through training, coaching, and mentoring
Practice makes a man perfect. When he subjects himself under the tutelage of a better leader, he allows himself to be shaped by that person’s perspectives, ideals, vision, and values. He then, when ready and with the support of his coach and mentor, launches himself into the world with his own sense of purpose and identity and pursues success. He becomes a good leader because someone else believed in him and invested in his journey. In a sense, you could say that leaders are born out of someone else’s investment.
Conclusion
I truly support the idea that a true leader writes his or her own destiny through his or her decisions. That’s why I believe that for any of us to influence others well, we need to surround ourselves with a reliable group of advisers and friends who will support us in the mountaintops and valleys of this journey. We must not approach this by just getting followers. If we have fine-tuned the ability to lead by example and demonstration, these people will naturally follow without much cajoling or convincing.
A great leader that has shaped my life in a permanent way is my volleyball coach. I have been on the athletic team for the last two years and she has always verbalized and concretized her confidence in my abilities. She is gentle and kind, but truthful and wise.
I want to be the kind of person she is someday and be able to pour myself into others. Her style of coaching and mentoring is effective for me because she makes sure to affirm and praise as often as she can, but also candidly express truth from a place of love when it is needed. This is why I am always so open to her feedback and correction. It never feels like I am being condemned or shamed – but always pushed to be better.
Who is a great leader who has influenced your life? If you can think of one or two people whose leadership approach has enriched and benefited your life in positive and healthy ways, make sure to take the time to thank them today. Honor them by sharing how they have pushed you to become a good and competent person. Ask for their feedback on how you can improve yourself, and enjoy learning from their constructive criticism. How we also are as followers will determine what we will be like as leaders.