Are leaders born or made?
This is by far the least important question in leadership.
It’s not even the real question.
The real question – the question underneath – is: can leadership be developed and cultivated in someone, or should we just try and find the natural leaders and push them to the front of the line?
So why do we ask the other question – the born or made question?
We ask it because it is so unimportant. Because any time we ask the question we begin a great debate about qualities and behaviors of leaders. We dance around and around question underneath. We are trying to avoid settling on a firm answer because a firm answer has consequences – a firm answer means we have to get working.
If we believe leaders are born than we have to invest in a process to find them. If we believe leaders are made we have to begin to take accountability for developing leaders. Either way, we’re obligated to begin to take action to improve leadership in our world.
So let’s take action.
The answer to the least important question in the world is both – born and made. So let’s stop debating it and start finding those with natural abilities and developing them into great leaders. Let’s also develop those without abilities into better leaders.
It’s an unimportant question with a very important answer.
David Burkus is the editor of LeaderLab. He speaks, consults and serves on the faculty of management at Oral Roberts University’s College of Business.
David.
Great question behind the question.
It is both, people are born with a potential capacity for complexity of work. The development piece is necessary for that potential to flourish.
Some people just find it easier to ‘dance around’ then to develop and improve upon what they got.
I like the term “dance around.”
As I research it more, I become less convinced of natural ability. I think some people’s early experiences just lend themselves better to dancing around.
This is a great non-question.
There are many similar questions in leadership literature. Most of the people asking the questions aren’t doing much else to expect a following.
Taking action trumps contemplation.
For sure. Ironic how many leadership scholars choose to contemplate non-committingly instead of take action on spread their viewpoint. Thanks!
I took a five minute break as I’m preparing to facilitate a Leadership Workshop. So glad I opened your blog post. Great insight. Whether they’re born or made we need to take action either way. I will incorporate this into my talk. Thank you.
Please let me know how the talk turns out. Thanks Steve.
David,
I agree with where Michael is coming from. I think people are born with a certain amount of leadership talent. And then each person can work to improve their leadership abilities over time.
I also believe there are many different ways to lead which opens up the possibilities for different types of people (e.g. a more quiet person may lead by example).
Thanks for the comment Greg. I agree that different people have different styles. I actually just interviewed Marcus Buckingham for the podcast (released next week). His new work is on exactly that, how best to lead for your individual style.
David,
That sounds like a very interesting topic for the podcast! I look forward to checking it out.
And I enjoyed reading his book “First, Break All the Rules.”
It’s amazing how easy it is to get entangled in useless arguments. Simple, straightforward, and exactly the right answer. Let’s get to work.
Great article, thank you. Really clear and direct. It’s a bit like when a child says something to you, so obvious you never really dealt with it before.