Great Leaders Are Born, Not Made - Coursework Example

GREAT LEADERS ARE BORN, NOT MADE by of the of the Introduction In the political science and academic research fields, few topics are as controversial as the leadership characteristics and traits of great leaders. Till the 20th century, it was widely acknowledged that great leaders were born rather than made. Today, numerous theories and researches totally confute the traditional theories and assumptions which signify the inherit characteristic of great leaders (Kirkpatrick & Locke 1991, p. 48). Contrary to the traditional ‘born’ theory, contemporary scholar group support the idea that the necessary traits of great leadership can be achieved through relevant experience, education, and training (Leaders are born 2010, p. 1-2). The idea of how great leaders come to exist triggers the constant debate between nurture and nature. The present paper will attempt to prove that great leaders are made, not born. Certainly, inborn talent or inherited traits do play a crucial role in development of leader, however, in order to achieve greatness and success, he ought to know how to nurture those inborn skills and how to use them for own benefits. People genetically gifted with traits such as, creativity, intelligence, and cognition have advantage over people without such inherited traits in becoming leader. But, it is more important to understand that an individual’s ability, dedication, and hard work to nurture required skills of leader and his surroundings and particular environment mainly determine whether the person will become a great leader or not. If a person manages to deal with these additional attributes successfully, then any person even without background of inborn leadership traits can achieve the status of leader (Leaders are born 2010, p. 1-3). In other words, great leaders are made, not born and by means of various researches and examples, the paper will try to justify the statement. Definition: Leadership According to the BNET business dictionary, leadership can be defined as the ability to set path and to influence and unite others towards common goals, committing and inspiring them to act and getting the best out of them. The Tom Peter’s research group and Santa Clara University have further extended the definition by adding the required traits of leader such as, honesty, competency, straight-forwardness, inspiring, broad-minded, intelligent, unbiased, imaginative, and courageous (Palmer 2014, p. 1-2). Here, it is necessary to state that obtaining a formal duty or role in specific system to lead others doesn’t mean that the person has achieved a status of “leader”. Leadership is the capacity of influencing others to accomplish the set goals, which is mainly related with talent and skills rather than a mere position or ranking in the system (Sadeghi et al. 2013, p. 172). The main difference between an actual leader and positional leader is clearly explained by John Maxwell in his book, Developing the Leader within You. According to Maxwell, leadership is all about obtaining loyal followers. It is the common characteristic that can be identified among all the great leaders in the world. Adolf Hitler was a leader and so was Steve Jobs. Martin L. King, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi all were great leaders and they achieved the status because they had followers and nurtured skills to influence others (Maxwell 1993, p. 1-4). Maxwell further claims that any person can become a leader; however, the issue lies in the misconception about leadership among people. Majority of people consider leadership as achieving the title or position. Therefore, they run after the position rather than getting followers. The misconception about the definition of leadership creates two major problems. One, after achieving the “title” of leader, many people get frustrated due to few supporters or followers, and second, due to the lack of “title” of leader, some people don’t consider themselves leaders even if they possess enough followers and hence, they don’t develop essential leadership traits (Maxwell 1993, p. 2-5). In a way, majority of people fail to become a leader not only because they don’t possess inborn talent or skills, but mainly due to the widespread misconception about the definition of leadership which deter their progress of becoming a great leader. Leadership Theories Today, there are numerous theories of leadership which are mainly divided into two groups. One group of scholars (for eg., Netzsche 1970, Grent 2000) hold the position that great leaders are born and their qualities are natural or innate, while the other (for eg.,Henrykson 2006, Myers 1997, Kakabdse 1999) insists that person needs to work hard and gain enough experience to develop the required qualities of leadership and emerge as a leader (Emerald Group 2009, p. 563-567). The ‘great man’ theory and trait theory of leadership exemplify the traditional view, i.e., great leaders are born, and emphasize on inborn personality attributes which leaders basically possess. These theories claim that a ‘great leader’ naturally owns the essential traits which allow him to emerge as a leader (Marques 2007, p. 99-100). Contrary to trait theory and ‘great man’ theory, a dynamic theory of leadership development seeks to examine the calculated actions taken to become a leader. The theory states that human history as well as human development is achieved by our consciousness of own mortality or limited existence which eventually influences daily life as a constant interpretation of past experience and future anticipation. The concept suggests that past experience and future anticipation trigger constant human development. Similarly, leadership is a process which develops with experience. One’s ability to learn from the experience and accordingly make changes in future actions nourish required leadership traits such as, interpersonal skills, confidence, conscientiousness, dominance, mental stability, social-boldness, compulsiveness, and enthusiasm in the person even if they weren’t present in him before. The theory also claims that a person born with leadership traits and qualities doesn’t necessarily assure that he will achieve a great success as a leader unless he works hard to nurture own inborn skills (Emerald Group 2009, p. 563-570). Similarly, situational leadership theory asserts that different situations and surroundings demand different types of leadership. Northose (2004) explains the theory by analyzing the impact of different situations on a person’s skills and personality traits. According to him, transformational leadership is a process that transforms or changes the person. Depending on particular situation or demand, individual’s values, emotions, long-term goals, ethics, and overall approach change in a way that it indirectly develops or nourishes leadership traits in him (Marques 2007, p. 99-101). In other words, leaders are not necessarily born, but they are made in transformational situation depending on their ability to adopt with it. Discussion After studying various historical great leaders like, Scipio, Napoleon, and Alexander the Great, Brian Tracy in his book, Leadership, states that no one in the world born as a natural leader. All the legends have achieved their status through hard work, dedication, and constant learning which in turn helped them to develop the skills of a great leader (Tracy 2014, p. 2-9). According to the author, it is all up to a person whether he wants to be a leader or a great leader. Person’s self-image determines his performance. Brian Tracy claims that the law of cause and effect plays a crucial role in development of any leader. All other laws in the sphere of mathematics and science are subparts of this law, which states that there is cause for every effect. Nothing just happens. Similarly, no one has become great leader overnight. Behind success of each leader, there is strong will power, readiness to work continuously towards goal, desire to learn from experience and surroundings, and ability to motivate and align others towards the set objectives. Besides the law of cause and effect, the law of belief can’t be ignored while analyzing the root causes of leadership traits among leaders. The law of belief states that a person is what he believes he is (Tracy 2014, p. 4-6). Despite equal opportunities and abilities, only few become great leaders because among the masses, only few actually believes in their ability and keep moving towards their goal without losing faith. Confidence and belief are one of the essential traits of great leaders. As quoted by philosopher William James, “Belief makes the actual reality” (Tracy 2014, p. 3-8). People who are acknowledged as great leaders usually display certain common traits and these traits have more of human element rather than any extraordinary feature. Some of these traits are resilience, team play, creativity, vision etc. When a child is born, it is impossible to guess whether the child is a potential leader or not. As the child grows, it adopts different skills, qualities, and values for the surrounding which influence his actions and thoughts. When these skills, qualities, and values appear in form of actions conducted by the person affecting lives of many only then one can surely claim the presence of a leader in the society. Basically leadership is contextual and the required qualities for it are developed throughout lifetime. If leadership had been innate then all leaders would have performed identically in different situations, but it is not true. History is full of many examples of leaders in different types and situations. Great leaders have many varying traits that they develop according to the demand of situation, causing differentiation among different leaders (Are Great Leaders 2014). As quoted by Barry Posner and James Kouzes, authors of The Leadership Challenge, leadership is a learnable and observable practice (Ambler 2012). For instance, the best parents are not innate. They become the best when they regularly follow the practices that “ideal” parents do. Similarly, great leaders achieve their status by regularly learning from other leaders and own experiences. In order to become the great leader, one has to become the great follower first (Claar et al. 2014, p. 47-48). If provided with the support and opportunity, those with the persistence and desire to lead can remarkably develop their skills to do so. The fact is that the majority of people possess the potential to become successful leaders. The only real issue is that only few people actually are willing to put their all efforts, time, and dedication to develop the required traits, to understand their unique skills and goals, and to learn how to express themselves and influence others (Ambler 2012). Supporting Facts and Examples Humans need a motive or purpose. As each individual has his own character, he therefore looks for own goals. This assertion is supported by majority of religious ideologies, like Judaism, Hinduism, and also, by modern cognitive psychologists (for instance, Pinkar 2003, Ryan & Desi 2000) (Emerald Group 2009, p. 570-572). Focusing on the pursuit of purpose in the form of goal needs maturity, which is one of the most crucial traits of any leader. Marathon runners have to struggle with the target which is out of sight for some time. In order to achieve it, they run continuously until the target becomes visible. Similarly, great leaders work towards their goal tirelessly until they achieve it (Emerald Group 2009, p. 563-575). For instance, from the early childhood, Alexander the Great was convinced that it was his purpose of life to conquer the world. In order to fulfill the goal, under the guidance of Aristotle, he learned the necessary skills and prepared himself for several years without stopping or giving up on own abilities and belief. Rather than inborn traits, his hard work, vision, sincerity, and ability to tackle any difficult situation allowed him to achieve the greatness (Leadership 2015). Also, specific situations or environment influence the goals of leaders, inspiring them to develop their leadership traits and achieve their set goals (Emerald Group 2009, p. 568-575). For example, during the World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill emerged as a great leader who found his purpose in fighting against dictatorship and restoring the world’s faith in the democratic system (Rosenberg 2015). Similarly, defeat of Germany in the World War I and later, humiliation of Germany with the Treaty of Versailles triggered anti-Semitic and radical nationalism in Hitler, inspiring him to lead Germany in the World War II and emerge as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century (Adolf Hitler 2015). Both these leaders found their purpose in specific situations which eventually motivated them to develop their traits as a leader and try to achieve the established goals. Without set goals and specific environment, one can’t obtain the status of great leader. As in case of Winston Churchill, after the WWII, his popularity drastically decreased. Also, if Germany hadn’t lost the WWI then most likely Hitler wouldn’t had come into power and become a great leader. History has regularly showed that no leader is born great; they achieved their success after multiple rejections, continuous struggle, and hard work. Winston Churchill was removed from his political party over ideological differences during the 1930s. In Thomas Edison’s childhood, his teacher told him he was “too dumb to learn anything” (Feloni & Lutz 2014). Later in his life, he became one of the greatest scientists in the world with his never give up attitude, strong desire, and immense hard work. During the initial days of career, Walt Disney was fired from the job in the newspaper for lacking creativity and having no new good ideas. Before becoming the greatest director in the Hollywood, Steven Spielberg was rejected multiple times by the University Of South California School Of Cinematic Arts (Feloni & Lutz 2014). Even in today’s world one of the most popular leaders in the world, the US President Barack Obama, had seen a lot of struggle in his early life. Without any political history, support of any political power, or inborn political skills, he went on becoming the President of the only superpower in the world. It is argued that his massive social work, law education, interest and deep knowledge in global political issues helped him to emerge as the global leader. But, it can’t be only reason of his success as there are thousands of people with equal education qualification and life experience. In the study on the great leaders by Muller, Warrick, Rennie, and Dana (2009), it was found that people, like Barack Obama, achieved their success not because of their formal qualification but mainly due to their ability to nurture necessary leadership traits such as, creativity, judgmental and intellectual qualities, emotional intelligence, ability to build trust and develop quick rapport, management skills, broad vision, social awareness and constantly learning from own experience and mistakes (Leaders are born 2010, p. 2-4). Further, increasingly studies and research suggest that leadership is not something inherited, but a process that can be learned. According to the research of Richard Arvay at NUS Business School of Singapore, almost 72% of leadership traits can be learned and majority of present and past leaders’ life studies have supported the fact (Eurich 2014). Majority of studies have linked crucial role of emotional intelligence in determining the success of leaders. It is found that people with high emotional intelligence quotient (E.Q.) are more likely become successful leaders. In order to understand whether emotional intelligence is innate or it can be learned, Delphine (2009) conducted a research on a few people. The research found that a group of responders who received special training showed remarkable improvement in their ability to control and manage own emotions, and express themselves effectively to others. Moreover, these improvements were identified for long term (Di Giulio 2014, p. 4-5). In a way, people can improve their abilities and skills. It is not necessary that only people born with great talent can become leaders, instead by means of self-realization, continuous hard work, and belief anyone can emerge as a successful leader. Numerous examples of great leaders and even various scientific studies have regularly proved this fact. Conclusion If someone has done it in the past then anyone can do it future. The art of leadership is not something innate or that can be taught; it is learned from own experiences, others’ example, and surroundings. Biographies of majority of great leaders have showed that no one born as great leader nor became successful overnight. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Before enjoying the success, they had to pay for it by sacrificing the comfort zone and giving their 100% hard work. Their choices, specific situations, surroundings, their dedication, hard work, inspiring and positive nature, ambitious and courageous attitude, and overall ability to adopt required traits to achieve their goal made them great leaders. In other words, it is a wide misconception that great leaders are born, not made; in reality, they are made, not born. Reference List Adolf Hitler. (2015). www.biography.com [online]. [Accessed 24 June 2015]. Available from http://www.biography.com/people/adolf-hitler-9340144 Ambler, G. (2012). Leaders Are Not Born, They’re Made. 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