Leaders Are Born Not Made - Critique of Statement - Coursework Example

Leaders are Born not Made. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Student’s Name Student Number Word Count Introduction Leaders are an important part of the society. They serve in ascertaining that things run smoothly around them by allocating duties and encouraging individual growth amongst followers so that the group can become better. They encourage their followers to work towards not only the short-term goals but also the long-term goals (Algahtani, 2014, pp75). They are therefore tasked with the responsibility of inspiring and motivating their followers towards achieving a certain goal as well as developing a vision that unites their followers. The debate about whether leaders are made or born has been held for a long time. Those that argue in favor of leaders being made argue that anyone that is interested in being a leader can become one. All he or she has to do is learn how to act like one. Those in favor of leaders being born on the other hand, claim that regardless of the intensity of the lessons that one is given in order to grow into a good leader, if one does not have the necessary traits or genes of being a leader, then he or she cannot be one (Shane, 2010, p81). Although leaders are born, they still have to gain experience and learn in order to develop into perfect successful leaders. One of the reasons why it is true that leaders are born is because leaders should have certain character traits. According to the trait theory, leaders are supposed to have certain characteristics that cannot be taught but rather they have to be in a leader when he or she is born (Khan, et al., 2016, p2). Leaders that have succeeded in their leadership have had specific traits that cannot be learned. This therefore nullifies the claim that leaders can be made since though one can learn how to do certain things, he or she cannot change his or her character traits. One of the characters that is important in a leader is the ability to make decisions (Day, 2014, p121). Leaders often have to make decisions while under pressure. These decisions are in most cases required urgently. A person cannot be shaped into a decision maker but rather has to be an individual that is not afraid to make decisions especially when the decision is crucial in a project or an organization. For example, when Steve Jobs was leading Apple Inc., he often had to make decisions that would affect the company’s direction not only at that particular moment but also in the future. He therefore, had to possess good decision-making skills that he had been born with to do successfully this on a daily basis. One cannot be trained how to be a decision maker but instead he or she is born with the ability to make important decisions whenever required (Shane, 2010, p81). Creativity is another character trait that a successful leader should have. He or she should have the ability to come up with creative ideas that could be used to solve the problems that his group or followers face (Shane, 2010, p137). Although there is a belief that the necessary leadership traits can be taught, one cannot be taught on how to think creatively. Creative thinking helps one come up with unique ideas that can be used as a strategic move in case of a competition. For example, if one is leading the marketing department in a mobile phone company, he or she should come up with creative marketing strategies. The creative strategies are meant to help the company stand out from its competitors. A made leader may not be creative thereby making the competitors that have naturally born leaders at an advantage because their marketing strategies will be more appealing to the consumers. Good leaders should also be ambitious. Ambition helps keep a leader driven (Day, 2014, p220). It is further vital in the process of setting goals for the group or project to achieve. For example, Steve Jobs’ ambition to make Apple Inc. a successful company led to him setting goals that would guide his employees to coordinate their efforts. Ambition further helps a leader develop strategies meant to achieve the set goals. In the case of Steve Jobs for example, he developed strategies that he communicated to the employees thereby further guiding them towards achieving the already set goals. However, the trait cannot be developed through learning. Therefore, people that do not have the trait naturally cannot be successful leaders. It is further true that leaders are born based on information drawn from the Situational Theory. The theory states that successful leaders handle each situation differently (Yukl & Mahsud, 2010, p84). Their leadership strategies therefore depending on the particular task or group that they are leading (McCleskey, 2014, p117). For example, when leading a group of children the leadership strategy used differs from the one used when leading a group of adults. In order for one to change the leadership strategies to suit the particular situation or group that one is handling successfully, he or she has to have some skills that one can only get at birth. A made leader may find himself stuck in situations that he has not had the opportunity to handle in the past since he depends on the knowledge learnt to lead. Situational theory further indicates that leaders are people that can confidently rise up to handle a situation that others have backed from handling using strategies uniquely suitable for that particular situation (Thompson & Glaso, 2015, p527). There are cases in which people find themselves in groups, which do not have leaders assigned to lead the group. The objectives and tasks of the group are however outlined. Naturally, a born leader will rise up to the occasion and handle everything that the leader is supposed to handle in that group. This is without being assigned the tasks or any of the members asking the particular individual to lead. It would be easy for the born leader to lead the group without prior preparation regarding what to handle in the specific meeting. This is unlike the made leaders who have to rely on what they have learnt. They therefore have to refer to their experiences, which may take some time and research, in order to lead any group successfully. The fact that leaders are born is further demonstrated by the transformational theory of leadership. The theory states that the best leaders are able to transform their followers into doing what is expected of them. They are also able to transform the opinion of those that follow them (Millisa, & Chi-Sum, 2011, p656). The ability to influence one to do their bidding without necessarily instructing or forcing or blackmailing the individual or inventing strategies to motivate them to do the leader’s bidding. One example of a naturally born leader that demonstrated his ability to transform his employees is Steve Jobs. He was involved in the different sectors in the company including innovation. He therefore inspired his employees to be innovative too thereby making the company’s core competence be innovation. Leaders that are made would however find it difficult to transform the behavior, thoughts and opinion of their followers since they do not have the naturally acquired ability to influence others. Leaders also have the responsibility of eliminating any hindrances or difficulties that his or her followers may experience while completing an assigned task. Some tasks may develop complications while the project is underway. According to the Path-Goal theory, one of the duties of a leader is to ensure that he or she resolves any troubles that may unexpectedly develop (House, 1996, p323). The ability to achieve this would not be learnt. This is especially true if the complication or barrier that develops had not been predicted and thus the possible ways to handle it had not been identified before the project began. Resolving this would require an individual that has the ability to resolve problems, which is an inborn trait. Leaders that do not naturally have this ability would end up stranded wondering what step to take thereby making the project take longer to complete than planned. However, the persons that are born leaders also need require training. Thus, to some extent the claim that leaders are made is correct. According to Social Learning Theory, people can be trained either through experiences or through schooling to behave in a certain way (O’Rorke, 2006, p72). Born leaders need to learn the importance of certain behaviors and their effect on the followers. They also need to learn how to use their skills to be effective leaders. These lessons are based on the experiences of successful leaders in different areas. These lessons save the leaders the hustle of having to experiment on what skills are more appropriate to use in different situations. They also help reduce the probability of failure when the leader is leading thus ensuring that they do not waste time that would be used pursuing and completing other projects. The natural born leaders also have to learn the strategies appropriate to handle certain types of projects. According to the Path Goal Theory, an effective leader is one who is able to identify the strategy that should be used to handle a project right from the start (House, 1996, p323). This may be difficult to achieve accurately when it is the first time for a leader to handle a certain type of a project. In order to avoid making mistakes in the planning stage, leaders depend on the knowledge of persons that have handled similar projects in the past. For example, if a leader is assigned the task of distributing food to a neighborhood, he or she would have to depend on the guidance of other leaders that distributed food either in that neighborhood or in other regions successfully. Failure to seek guidance increases the risk of the leader failing to distribute the food evenly, with some getting more than they should have while others would not get anything. In conclusion, leaders are born. However, they have to sharpen their leadership skills through practice and learning in class setups as well as from other people’s experience. The skills that cannot be learned include creativity, fast decision-making skills and ambitious. Leaders that lack in any of these skills end up failing since they cannot learn any of them. The Trait Theory, Situational Leadership Theory and Path Goal Theory are theories that consistently support the claim that leaders are born and not made. The three theories require leaders to possess character traits that one cannot learn. However, assessment of theories such as Social Learning Theory and the aspect of developing strategies in the Path Goal Theory reveals the importance of every leader learning how to be a good leader. This consequently, leads to the conclusion that leaders are born but have to be trained in order to sharpen their leadership skills. Bibliography Algahtani, A. 2014. Are leadership and management different? A review. Journal of Management Policies and Practices, 2(3), pp71-82. Day, D. 2014. The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations. New York: Oxford University Press. House, R. 1996. Path-Goal Theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy and a reformulated theory. Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), 323-352. Khan, Z. et al. 2016. Leadership theories and styles: A literature review. Journal of Resources Development and Management, 16, 1-7. McCleskey, J. 2014. Situational, Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Leadership Development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117-130. Millisa, F. & Chi‐Sum, W. 2011. "Transformational leadership, leader support, and employee creativity", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(7), pp.656-672. O’Rorke, K. 2006. Social Learning Theory & mass communication. ABEA Journal, 25, 72-74. Shane, S, 2010. Born entrepreneurs, born leaders: How your genes affect your work life. New York: Oxford University Press. Thompson, G. & Glaso, L. 2015. Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5), pp527-544. Yukl, G. & Mahsud, R. 2010. Why flexible and adaptive leadership is essential. Constructing Psychology Journal, 62(2), 81-93. Read More