Is Great Leadership Born or Made?

This is such a common question.  Do you think that successful leaders are born that way, or is it possible to teach people to be effective leaders?

Well in the real world it isn’t quite that simple.  The facts are that some leadership behaviour is inherent and other key leadership behaviour can be developed with training and experience.  In fact, leadership education is crucial, especially for young leadership talent to emerge as our future leaders.

Great leadership encompasses five essential leadership behaviours or traits.  Before going further, it’s assumed that the foundation of great leadership is already in place – integrity, intelligence and emotional maturity.

So let’s go beyond these.  The key to great leadership is found in these five crucial skills:

1.    Positive attitude – the ability to remain upbeat and energized through good times and bad.
2.    The ability to energize others – inspiring positive energy and bringing out the full potential in those you influence.
3.    Ethical decision making – the ability to make tough calls and to make decisions.  There’s no time for procrastination.
4.    Execution – taking action and making things happen.
5.    Passion – unequivocal belief and commitment to excellence.

So which great leadership behaviours are born and which can be taught?  As you may have figured a positive attitude, the ability to energize others and ignited passion are pretty much part of one’s personality.  Some people just seem to be naturals – they exude greatness and have a tendency towards people, life and work.  That is just who they are – it’s their being.

Ethical decision making and the ability to execute on the other hand are different.  Young leadership and even middle management can benefit greatly from training in both these leadership behaviours.  However, training only goes so far.  The best lesson for these two leadership behaviours is experience.  That’s because decision making and execution are largely a function of self-confidence.  It’s a lot easier to say yes or no when you’ve done it many times, or to understand the effectiveness of making decisions and acting on them, when you’ve reaped the benefits of decisiveness.

So is great leadership born or made?  Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s both.  The best strategy, especially for young leadership, is to focus on your positive energy, your ability to inspire and motivate others and your inherent passion.  Then engross yourself in training and developing your decision making and execution skills.  Always remember though, that great leadership requires ongoing commitment to your own personal development as well as those you influence.  Be inspired to reach your full potential and in so doing, be an example to others of what is possible. That’s the ultimate great leadership!

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