Question

There is a lot of discussion about whether a leader is born or made. Do you believe leadership is a natural ability that a person is born with? Or, do you believe that leadership is a trait that can be taught?  Provide an example.

Answer 1

There is a lot of discussion about whether a leader is born or made. Do you believe leadership is a natural ability that a person is born with? Or, do you believe that leadership is a trait that can be taught? Provide an example.

Answer:

Leadership in very simple words is the ability to lead a group of people or an organization. In context of leadership we often hear the phrase “Born to Lead” implying that leaders are born and it is something which cannot be developed over a period of time, however this may not actually hold true.

Leadership require some specific skill set which the leader apply using their knowledge and includes various attributes gathered over a period of time. Leadership also often requires to put to test skills gathered through life experiences, Training etc. Leaders also develop their skills over time through coaching and mentoring. There might be some qualities which are inherent and can assist in getting differentiated from a crowd such as being charismatic, naturally intelligent, witty and able to articulate ones thought’s very well however these are no doubt helpful to being a leader but by no means the only attributes which a leader ought to have. As suggested above leadership skills also require various other key attributes gathered over time via focused learning, coaching etc.

There are various instances wherein we may see that some of the great personalities who became world leader with time were once just ordinary men and with time and by gathering various life experiences and applying the same in a justified manner they were not able to lead but achieve great heights. One of the classical example which holds true to such case is that of Mahatma Gandhi. Till time he was sent to South Africa he was leading a very ordinary life, however the experiences which Mahatma gathered over the years along with some incidents and coaching he was able to transform himself into a leader and slowly portray the ability to lead masses to ensure a common goal is reached. A similar example is that or Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela.

Thus we can safely conclude that leadership is a trait which one develops over a period of time through constant learning and applying to use the life experiences as gathered over time.