Whether Leaders Are Made or Born - Example

Leadership over the years have undergone tremendous changes and has looked at engulfing different things so that better results can be achieved. There is a continuous discussion whether leaders are made or born? Different proponents have brought forward different ideas. Some suggest that leaders are born whereas others are of the view that they are made. This is one of the most controversial debates as different incidents and situations when seen in isolation suggest different viewpoints. When a generic view is taken it seems that 70% of the people feel leaders are made and even different situations suggest the same. The most debatable thing out here is that leaders need certain traits and qualities which are ingrained when a leader is born. This thereby raises doubts regarding whether leaders are born or made? I am of the opinion that leaders are made to a large extent but the ingrained qualities helps to improve leadership and create better future prospects. This paper would thereby look discuss whether leaders are made or born and would present both supportive and argumentative views so that a conclusion whether leaders are made or born can be undertaken. People who become great leaders are believed to have certain skills like confidence, communication and creativity which are inborn at the time of birth. This suggests that leaders are born but in reality shaping those skills and traits through practice makes a great leader. A leader needs to look at shaping up the different skills and traits so that better leaders can be created (Burke, Stagl, Klein, Goodwin, Salas & Halpin, 2006). Most people born have certain trait and skills but all people don’t become leaders. Only those people become leaders who are able to identify those skills and develop those skills in such a manner through which better performance and results can be achieved. This clearly states that leaders are made and not born as being able to realize the skills and developing those skills requires practice and enables a person to deliver better performance and achieve the required goals. Leaders need to understand and utilize the learning so that mistakes in the future are controlled and this can be achieved only through experience and using the skills which have been developed for better decision making. To become a great leader it is important that leaders develop those skills for which the leader need to have listening skills and should look forward towards taking feedback in a constructive way. This should be matched by the fact that the person should be patient and have the ability to work in groups (Fitzsimons, James & Denyer, 2011). This is something which is not born in an individual but over a period of time the skill is possessed. This skill helps to improve the degree of confidence and ensures that leaders are able to take more risk and develop the required areas through which their performance will be better shaped. Leaders thereby develop their skills and keep on undergoing changes so that the overall degree of performance is better and the leader is able to achieve the different results in the most positive manner. Learning is only a process through which leader is able to transform his working style. This provides leader with the ability to see different situations and is something which is not inborn but developed over a period of time through experience and learning. This is being supported by behavioural theories which suggest that leaders are made through the process of teaching, learning and observing. Behavioural theories suggest that leadership requires a set of skills which can be acquired through learning, perception, experience and practice (Hogan & Kaiser, 2004). This thereby becomes a life time activity where leaders over a period of time are able to develop the required skills and traits through which performance can be improved. One of the important qualities of leader is that leaders are constantly looking out for opportunities through which new skills can be developed. These skills are acquired and learned over a period of time and are not one which is inborn. Those skills which a leader requires are shaped and altered from time to time so that it fits the situation which the leader encounters. This thereby requires working on the present skills and acquiring new skills as well so that the overall development of an individual to a leader is effective. It clearly states that the skills of a leader are made and developed over a period of time and has nothing to do with the skills which the leaders have at the time of birth. It has been stated by several proponents that personality traits is an imperative quality in a leader. This quality are inborn but the actual leadership qualities are demonstrated when these skills are developed and used. Every individual somewhere has some qualities but that doesn’t make every person a leader. To be a leader it is important that the followers follow him and looks towards his advices (Heathfield, 2010). The qualities which an individual possesses needs to be developed over a period of time and this can be achieved only through experience and time. This thereby strengthens the view point that leaders are made as different traits of a leader gets shaped. In addition to it leaders look to be innovative which is a trait which a person possesses through experience. This thereby harps and strengthens the view point that leaders are made through the quality of traits and characteristics which an individual possess by birth but is developed over a period of time. Working on those traits and identifying new ones along with it helps to bring the required changes and develops a leader. The different traits are not inborn but acquired over a period of time. Some of the traits which an individual possesses might be inborn but the other skills and traits needs to be acquired over a period of time (Worral & Cooper, 2010). It is imperative that leader understands the situation and acts accordingly. There is no hard fast rule regarding the manner in which a leader should act. This thereby requires continuous change and transformation which is possible only if the skills are acquired and worked on. This strengthens the fact that leaders are made and not born despite the fact that certain skills and traits of an individual is used to develop better potential leaders in the future. It is even witnessed that economies who have achieved great feat has been on account of successful leaders. It is true leaders don’t drop from heaven but are instead made. The different institutions have been created and developed which looks at imparting the hard skills of leadership and at the same time socialize the value system (Hooijberg & Dension, 2002). This thereby makes leaders custodians and creators of the value system which looks at imbibing the different skills through which leaders can be developed. Even looking at the fact that leaders are born will lead towards narrowing the focus towards selecting the correct people with the correct trait and not looking towards developing and improving the traits. The focus thereby narrows down and priority shifts towards finding correct individual leaders instead of shaping leaders (Yukl, 2010). On the other hand if the focus is towards the fact that leaders are made would lead towards believing that leaders are made the focus would be towards providing more opportunities and developing individuals to become better leaders. The different model of leadership as the self efficacy theory also suggests that leaders are developed and made. Leaders over a period of time gains confidence and the ability to lead through the development of confidence which the self efficacy model states (Davis and Luthans, 2009). This provides leaders with the required traits which are developed through experience and over a period of time. As a result a leader is able to identify and work on the different core areas through which better results are achieved. The theory completely harps on the point that leadership is an art where the skills of an individual get shaped based on situations. This is something which is achieved through experience and learning and birth has no role to play in it. It signifies and strengthens the view point that leaders are made over a period of time because of the different situation which they encounter. The different situations bring out different skills which help to shape the individual to undertake bigger responsibility in the future. The actual truth is that all people have some qualities which can be used to develop a leader but only few become leaders because people find it difficult to find their passion, people don’t realize their vision, people need time to express their thoughts and people need to understand their strengths and skills (Murray, 2010). This can be achieved only through experience and time as people through it will be able to realize their core competencies and based on it they can transform themselves as leaders. This thereby becomes imperative that people look towards leader as being made over a period of time as no one is born a leader but the process gradually leads and transforms a person into a leader. This supports and strengthens the view point that leaders are made over a period of time based on the different traits and skills which they possess. It has been suggested by clinical psychologist that cognitive abilities and dispositional tendencies are important traits in leadership (Bons and Fiedler, 1976). This traits are inborn in an individual but the major portion comes from development and experience where the traits and tested. This thereby helps to provide the proponents with a better perspective regarding leadership and guides individuals to become better leaders. This theory also suggest that 30 percent leadership traits are generic and are acquired by birth but the majority of the traits i.e. 70 percent are developed and acquired through experience. This thereby increases the weight that leaders are made but they need to possess certain qualities and traits which are inborn and differentiates one person from other. Different proponents have also supported the fact that leaders are born and not made. Some people have taken a mixed view and suggest that one third leaders are born whereas two third leaders are made. Great Man theories and Trait theories suggest that leaders are born as certain traits and skills which an individual has increases the chances of the person to be better suited as leaders (Fiedler & Fred, 2012). This has been suggested on the backdrop that people are born with different set of skills and qualities which enable a person to be better suited as leaders. The skills and traits are different for each individual who thereby makes different type of leaders with different traits and qualities. This thereby enables the person to carry out the different responsibilities in different ways. Despite the fact that certain traits and skills are born in individuals but those skills need to be shaped up so that better leaders are developed. The skills which are inborn in individual needs to be honed and developed over a period of time so that better results can be achieved (Harris and Karl 2007). This is a time taking process and would require continuous practice. This thereby highlights the fact that the skills which an individual has needs to be shaped and developed so that better results can be achieved. This thereby again confronts to the fact that skills in leaders are inborn but those skills need to be developed thereby ensuring that leaders are made over a period of time. Inborn characteristics which an individual has are easy to master as certain traits and qualities are already acquired by individuals. This thereby enables the individual to ensure that mastery on those skills can be easily achieved. This brings forward the fact that leaders are born and mastering those skills enables the person to achieve different and difficult task. But, this needs to be looked form different angle as well as the skills needs to be mastered which can only be achieved over a period of time (Avery & Jing, 2008). This thereby requires that the skills need to be practiced and mastered making it necessary that the skills are developed. This strengthens the fact that leaders possess certain traits and skills which are inborn but the other skills need to be developed over a period of time which thereby increases the overall dimensions and strengthens the fact that leaders are made over a period of time. This helps to bring forward the view that leaders are made despite having some skills which are inborn in an individual. It is true that great leaders have certain traits and qualities which are distinctive from others. Those traits when used in a positive manner generate the required energy through which focus would tend to improve. It is also correct that leaders have certain characteristics which are inborn (Blank, 2001). But the truth is that if those traits and qualities are not identified and developed then leaders don’t become effective. This takes the entire topic to an important discussion that leadership have certain traits and qualities which are inborn and needs to be developed so that better leaders can be achieved. This thereby again focuses the entire prospect towards developing those traits and building those through experience. This confirms the point that leaders are made despite the fact that certain traits and characteristics are inborn. Management educators have thereby undertaken the view that leadership qualities can be developed in an individual given adequate amount of personal characteristics, energy and intelligence. It is a process which is gradually evolved and individuals over a period of time will be able to garner the required qualities through which they can become prospective leaders (Arvey, 2001). This has been supported by the fact that individuals born don’t know the qualities or traits which they possess until and unless those traits and qualities are expressed and identified. It is thereby more to do with identifying the qualities and garnering those qualities so that leaders can be made. The paper thereby substantiates the fact that leaders are made and not born. It is true an correct that leaders do have certain qualities which are inborn but those traits and characteristics if not used positively will not develop individuals into leaders. In addition to it leaders become effective over a period of time through experience and learning as they have the ability to acquire the learning and use those towards positive energy generation. Only possessing the qualities and traits by birth would not lead towards being a great leader as otherwise every individual on earth would have been a great leader. It is thereby a process of finding out the different traits and qualities and using those traits and qualities in such a manner that positive energy is created. This thereby leads to the conclusion that leaders are made and not born as the traits which a leader needs to possess are developed and built over a period of time. References Arvey, D. (2001). The determinants of leadership: the role of generic, personality, and cognitive factors. Journal of applied psychology, 12 (4), 16-35 Avery, G.C. & Jing F.F. (2008) Missing Links in understanding the relationship between leadership and organizational performance. International Business & Economic Research Journal, 7 (5), 134-167 Blank, W. (2001). The 108 skills of natural born leaders. Broadway, NY: AMACOM Bons, M. P. and Fiedler. E. F. (1976) Changes in Organizational Leadership and the Behavior of Relationship- and Task- Motivated Leaders. ASQ, 21 (3), 453-473. Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Klein, C., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Halpin, S. M. (2006). What type of leadership behavior are functional in teams? A meta-analysis. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 288-307. Davis. R.V. and Luthans. F. (2009). 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