What I Learned About Leadership

In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).

Leadership is not something you are born

As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

In modern day business, leadership has become an issue that is given far more attention and investment than ever before. Leadership involves establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realise that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholder. This essay will discuss whether leaders are born not made, with varies of theories being compared and contrasted and the strengths and limitations of leaders itself. Further this essay will analyse the future aspects of theories which would establish whether a leader was born with leadership qualities or made into a successful leader.

During the Leadership Fundamentals course of the Master of Science in Leadership, I learned the importance of how to think not what to think. I was able to take this lesson learned one step further during the Emotional Intelligence course by learning the importance and methods of considering how others think and feel in regards to my behavior, actions, or communication. In this paper, I will summarize the key principles that I learned during the Leading Change course and describe how the course contributed to my building a holistic understanding of leadership by identifying concepts that improved my knowledge the most. Finally, I will describe strengths, areas of improvement, and a targeted improvement plan that will assist me in achieving excellence in leadership.

For any leadership to be perceived as astute and phenomenal, there has to be a leader who defines the goal/message and followers who bring the dream to fruition. The goal must be well defined for the followers to understand. Leadership can be both an innate character or learned character. Some people are more predisposed to the leadership gene and seem to fit into the leadership role more comfortably than others. Leadership seems to manifest naturally, hence the innate predisposition.

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

Leaders aren 't born; their made. The process of leadership is long, complicated and has made elements. Respect, dignity, discipline, people skills, vision, emotional strength, opportunity, preparedness and experience are just some of the intangible elements which come into play when talking leadership.

I believe that leaders are born and leadership quality lies dormant in the DNA until a person learns what they are good at. Therefore, a leader cannot reach their full potential until they tap into the career path in which they are purposed for. I believe when a person ignite their leadership flame it leads to a fire of success. In her article “Agile Leaders: Born or Bred?” Deanna Hartley discovers that few leaders are born and that everyone is essentially born with leadership qualities but few aspire to develop and train their leadership skills (2013, p.37). Fundamentally, everyone has a seed of leadership anticipating development, nourishment, and ultimately harvested. Job experiences, cultural upbringing, and educational enhancements all

Management in my mind and as the book reinforces the definition to be, to plan, to organize, to staff for the process, and to control the process to the end. These are consider the primary functions of the management role (p.8).

It is hard to quantify what I have learned in the semester of Leadership because the courses focus was not about memorizing data, but rather learning about having the will to lead and finding the courage to make it happen. A majority of the information I learned from this course came from learning about myself. Through readings, course activities, and various projects, I learned what makes a great leader, but more importantly what traits I possess that will make me a great leader. In order to be a great leader, one must have an understanding of what leadership is. Leadership is a social influence (Stogdill, p. 25). It means leaving a mark. It is initiating and guiding, and the result is change. Leading is the result of your passion coming to life.

There are many kinds of leaders; some lead through position and authority, while others lead through inspiration and vision. Some people are simply natural born leaders. However, whether one was born a leader or has to become a leader, all great leaders spend time developing their traits. Similarly, when you train for a sport, you first learn to develop the fundamentals, and then you work to master and apply them. I’ve been told I am a born leader, but have always sought to improve my leadership abilities through experience. Maxwell states, “The learned leader; has seen leadership modeled most of life, has learned leadership through training, and has self-discipline to become a great leader” (Maxwell, 93). This statement is reflective of my experience during my military tenure, and what it means to me is; leadership must be developed in practice, as well as in theory.

LEADERS ARE BORN NOT MADE There have been an age long debate, and humans since beginning of time, have tried to come up with an answer to this question – Are Leaders born or are they made?. This question has generated an age long debate, which in turn has resulted in various school of thoughts, some believe that leaders are born, while others think otherwise. My contribution to this lifelong debate will serve as a pointer to my position on this issue. I strongly believe that leaders are born and not made. Who is a Leader? - “A leader is a person who guides others toward a common goal, showing the way by example, and creating an environment in which other team members feel actively involved in the entire process. A leader is not the boss of

One must be able to understand the definition of leadership before making the determination is a leader is born or developed. Leadership is defined as “the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals” (Bethel University, 2011, p.16). There are myths that tend to stand in the way of people fully understanding leadership development. One would say that good leadership is having common sense, or leaders are born rather than made or developed. Leaders have certain traits that make he or she be a good leader. One may assume that a person is born a leader because of one’s actions or attributes he or she maintains. A person can have traits and behaviors that point in the direction of leadership. However, those traits and behaviors do not necessarily mean that the leader was born that way nor developed that way. Leadership is can be acquired in different ways. The important

Natural Leaders, display special qualities and traits into leadership roles throughout their lives. Natural born leaders have self confidence, social ability, assertiveness, is independent, encourages others and many more. I believe that anyone can cultivate these characteristics of a natural born leader. I myself am not a natural born leader, but I have cultivated here and there a few of these traits.