Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Can all managers go on to be leaders? Explain For ages, attempts have been made by many psychologists, scholars at demystifying the quality known as leadership. Even then, there is not been single clear answer to the question if leaders are born or made. ( zenger 2002) We disagree with the concept that leaders are born, based on our literature review. It depends less on the traits a person is born with and more on what skills that person learns.
There have been many instances, where highly knowledgeable, educated and motivated people have lacked the skill to lead others. Therefore they don’t do very well in the leadership positions. They along with others, assume that these individuals just weren’t born leaders, which is completely wrong . They failed to be a leader because they didn’t persevere long enough and they didn’t learn from their failures. The debate of leadership through nature versus nurture has been a long standing debate.
While the genes certainly has its influences on us, but nurture determines the impact of a gene. (clark 1997) For instance , a person may have a charismatic nature . This nature alone will not go on to make him a leader. There are certain skills which when learned, with the inborn ability can make a good leader. To understand this we need to first dwell upon the skills and characteristics that constitute leadership. By definition, a leader is one who goes ahead and guides others and shows the way. Followers should be there, if someone is to be called a leader.
The Essay on Are leaders born or made?
Defining what best describes leaders, followed by the debate based on the assumption that some authors agree that leaders are born, some that leaders are mixture of inborn and taught qualities and others try to prove that leaders are made. Finally, it will summarise the findings and consider each view to draw a conclusion and answer the question if there is such a thing as natural ability to lead ...
These followers are attached to their leaders for any number of reasons, and they can have a greater or lesser degree of influence over their leaders, but without at least one follower, directs or indirect a person is not a leader. A leader excites camaraderie and promotes unity, and guides vague notions in to concrete actions. (Plachy 1978 )It is not enough just too order some one to do something. A person in a position of power is not automatically a leader. The president of a company may be a wholly ineffective leader but an adequate manager what distinguishes a leader from a manager is vision.
Leadership is a skill that can be learned. Leadership focuses centrally on the character of the leader and his interpersonal communication skills ,focus on results, and should be able to lead organisational change. An awful lot of leadership cannot be taught. That’s because leadership is an apprentice trade. Leaders learn about 80 percent of their craft on the job. They learn from watching other leaders and emulating their behaviour. They choose role models and seek out mentors. They ask other leaders about how to handle situations.
Leaders improve by getting feedback and using it. The best leaders seek feedback from their boss, their peers and their subordinates. Then they modify their behaviour so that they get better results. Leaders learn by trying things out and then critiquing their performance. The only failure they recognize is the failure to learn from their experience. A Leader’s Growth is never Done. Leadership learning is a lifetime activity. You’re never done because there’s always more to learn. There are always skills you need to improve.
