Leaders - Born Or Made?
The new version of the New Cambridge Advanced Dictionary defines a leader as "a person in control of a group, country, or situation".
A leader can also be defined as a person who influences people to cooperate towards a goal which they come to find to be desirable.
A leader can also be said to be a person who has the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires.
There are continuous debates to whether leaders are born or made.
Whilst one group says leaders are born the other group says they are made.
What might have made fascinating leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
so influential? Was it because they were born or made? It has been said that these leaders have unique set of traits that others do not have.
Traits theory argues that leaders have certain personality, social, and physical characteristics which is known as traits which influences the way they act.
This theory stresses that the ability to become a leader is embedded in a person before the person is born.
As such, certain people were born leader and others were not.
According to the traits theory, tests that measure intelligence, initiative, self-confidence persistence and alertness to others' needs indicate that people were born with these traits.
There have been hundreds of researches conducted that indicate that there is a relationship between specific personal characteristics and effective leadership.
On the contrary, others believe that leaders are made.
They believe that it is what a child or a person has been taught when he/she was young that he/she grows with.
They believe that a child who has been trained to be outspoken grows to be alike but a child who was made to be timid grows to be timid.
This group believes that the environment in which a person grows or lives is what affects the behavior or makes him a leader or not.
The truth of the mater however is that, effective leaders are both born and made.
Why do I say so? It is important to note that some of the very effective leaders we have do not posses all the traits that the traits theory used to support their argument.
Also, some ineffective leaders do demonstrate some of these traits that have been talked about.
Researches also indicate that there was no specific trait that results in effective leadership.
In addition, it is not true that where a person grows would certainly shape his/her life.
This is because people live in very quite homes but are not quiet in themselves.
Some people have been trained in their homes to be outspoken but tend to be very timid.
It is against this background that one would say leaders are both made and born.
If a person who is claimed to be born a leader has not gotten any proper training, those supposed leadership traits would remain dormant in him/her.
If a person does not have any of the leadership qualities from birth, it becomes very difficult to train him/her as an effective leader.
Effective leaders are therefore made and born.
By: Bernard Amexo
A leader can also be defined as a person who influences people to cooperate towards a goal which they come to find to be desirable.
A leader can also be said to be a person who has the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires.
There are continuous debates to whether leaders are born or made.
Whilst one group says leaders are born the other group says they are made.
What might have made fascinating leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
so influential? Was it because they were born or made? It has been said that these leaders have unique set of traits that others do not have.
Traits theory argues that leaders have certain personality, social, and physical characteristics which is known as traits which influences the way they act.
This theory stresses that the ability to become a leader is embedded in a person before the person is born.
As such, certain people were born leader and others were not.
According to the traits theory, tests that measure intelligence, initiative, self-confidence persistence and alertness to others' needs indicate that people were born with these traits.
There have been hundreds of researches conducted that indicate that there is a relationship between specific personal characteristics and effective leadership.
On the contrary, others believe that leaders are made.
They believe that it is what a child or a person has been taught when he/she was young that he/she grows with.
They believe that a child who has been trained to be outspoken grows to be alike but a child who was made to be timid grows to be timid.
This group believes that the environment in which a person grows or lives is what affects the behavior or makes him a leader or not.
The truth of the mater however is that, effective leaders are both born and made.
Why do I say so? It is important to note that some of the very effective leaders we have do not posses all the traits that the traits theory used to support their argument.
Also, some ineffective leaders do demonstrate some of these traits that have been talked about.
Researches also indicate that there was no specific trait that results in effective leadership.
In addition, it is not true that where a person grows would certainly shape his/her life.
This is because people live in very quite homes but are not quiet in themselves.
Some people have been trained in their homes to be outspoken but tend to be very timid.
It is against this background that one would say leaders are both made and born.
If a person who is claimed to be born a leader has not gotten any proper training, those supposed leadership traits would remain dormant in him/her.
If a person does not have any of the leadership qualities from birth, it becomes very difficult to train him/her as an effective leader.
Effective leaders are therefore made and born.
By: Bernard Amexo
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