Why leaders are born and not born

You’ve probably heard this query repeatedly: Are leaders born or made? Answer: Well, all of it will depend on who you ask.

Interestingly, the theories supporting either position have evolved over time. The archaic “Great Man Theory” holds that only certain people are born with innate qualities that make them able to leading. Fortunately, this has long been debunked and you’ll be able to probably guess why.

Process theory, however, suggests that leaders are created through the technique of successfully coping with life experiences. In practice, the latter simply seems to make more sense.

Skills don’t emerge in a vacuum – they must be cultivated. If that is the case, they constitute key elements of what researchers have called “leadership complexity.” It is the true nature of leadership evolution that makes the reply to this age-old query so painfully obvious. Indeed, leaders are made, not born.

This is why.

Then there’s the entire “melting pot” thing.

People rarely develop leadership acumen without first experiencing a “crucible” or an intense, transformative experience that influences their pondering, behavior, and ultimately leadership success. While the character of those experiences varies in scope, the very fact is that they do occur. These experiences shape your perspective and the best way you navigate the world around you. They provide a level of learning – sometimes even an entire change – corresponding to a paradigm shift.

No one could be born with these experiences. They can only occur if you interact with the world around you.

Choice of terms “adaptive and perceptual features” suggest that some level of study is required

The concept that leaders must have the opportunity to discern nuance and adapt their pondering and behavior to a wide selection of circumstances suggests that learning from past experience is a prerequisite for achieving leadership status. How can you recognize what to do for those who’ve never done it before? How are you able to be good at this? How will we learn to navigate the world from birth? We definitely won’t get out of this knowing this. The path to leadership is definitely no different. Through trial and error, you learn best practices or create latest ones that work.

Emotional intelligence is the idea of effective leadership

Like every other skill, emotional intelligence is learned over time. Leaders perform best once they have a healthy combination of self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, motivation and empathy. These skills are absolutely fundamental to effective leadership. It is obvious that nobody is born with complete mastery of them. We only really learn them within the context of our relationships with others. By observing, interpreting, interacting, and taking motion, we will higher understand what these items mean. We reflect, evaluate and draw conclusions. Right, flawed or indifferent, we also make decisions based on the knowledge we gain in the method.

If you have ever questioned the evolution of leadership, it’s comprehensible. Theories and researchers have been wondering about this for a whole lot of years. But from a practical standpoint, consider this: If we aren’t born with it (and we aren’t), it’s more likely to be a cognition that’s learned and developed over time.