Are Leaders Born or Made? (Updated 5/31/2009, Original 11/7/2006 by TQM Doctor)
Students often debate this question in university classes with a palpable lack of useful ammunition on either side of the field. In Business Leadership, Kouzes (2003) eloquently lobbed a live one to the other side when he asserted that leaders are born because he had never met one that wasn’t. Touché! His words promptly earned my yellow stain of wisdom (e.g., highlighting). Kouzes (2003) continued with the declaration that leadership is an “observable set of skills and abilities” (p. xvii) and those who hold the opposing belief that leadership is a birthright are simply abdicating personal responsibility for self-improvement. Let them keep looking for the leadership gene!
Incredibly, the best workers do not necessarily make the best leaders. Students of leadership recognize the truth of this statement due to a general acceptance that we can learn the skill of leadership because it is comprised of an “observable set of skills and abilities” (Kouzes, 2003, p. xvii). This infers that the best worker at any profession other than leadership does not necessarily have the skills required of effective leadership. In other words, the assumption that the best worker would make the best leader is as senseless as stating that the best nurse would make a good carpenter. Therefore, leadership is a skill and practice we should continually develop in ourselves and especially with those led, to ensure they are effective and have the ability to advance.
Reference
Kouzes, J. M. (2003). Business leadership: A Jossey-Bass reader (pp. xv-xxiv). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.