Are leaders born or made?

Meaning of leadership

Leadership means influencing what a person or a group does, so that they work towards goals, in a particular situation. Keith Davis describes it as the ability to persuade others to pursue defined objectives with enthusiasm. The process involves the leader, the followers and the situation, and the situation affects how effective the leader is. The statement asks whether the ability to lead is inborn or can be developed.

The case for born leaders

The statement reflects the trait theory. It holds that only a few people are leaders and the rest followers, and that leaders are marked out by inborn qualities. Studies have listed traits such as physical characteristics, social background, intelligence and judgment, personality traits like self-confidence and creativity, task-related traits like achievement drive and persistence, and social traits like sociability; there is broad agreement that effective leaders show intelligence, social maturity, achievement drive and a human-relations attitude.

The case for made leaders

1. Traits are not conclusive. Many people have the traits yet are not leaders; skills are sometimes mistaken for traits, lists of traits do not agree, and the theory cannot say how much of each trait is needed.
2. Qualities can be acquired. No one has all the qualities of a good leader, but understanding them helps managers to acquire them through training and conscious effort.
3. Leadership is behaviour. The behavioural approach holds that leadership lies in what the leader does, using technical, human and conceptual skills. Skills can be learnt and practised.
4. Leadership depends on the situation. The situational approach rests on the idea that leaders are made, not born: a person who leads in one situation may not lead in another, and anyone can become a leader if circumstances allow.
5. Styles can be chosen. Managers learn to use autocratic, democratic or free-rein styles as the group and task require.

Comment on the statement

The statement is only partly true. Some inborn qualities, such as intelligence or self-confidence, give a person a head start. But each approach to leadership has its limits: the behavioural approach cannot explain why the same behaviour works at one time and fails at another, and the situational approach overstates the situation and does not show how leaders are developed. Leadership is therefore best seen as inborn potential developed by training, experience and the demands of the situation. A shy production engineer in a Hosur electronics plant who is given charge of a small team, sent on a supervisory course and coached by a senior manager can, within a few years, lead a whole shift; he was not born a leader, but he became one.

Conclusion

Leaders are neither simply born nor simply made. Inborn qualities help, but leadership skills are largely learnt and shaped by the situation, which is why organisations invest in developing leaders rather than only searching for them.