Leadership - Born With Or Taught ?

Leadership is an inborn trait and can't be taught.

Traits are inherited much like genes. And it would be wrong to assume that some of those do not make leaders out of men. Not everybody can be a Gandhi or a Lenin or a Lincoln. Yet, it would still be wrong to state that India can’t produce another Gandhi.

Leadership as a quality can’t strictly be classified as a born trait purely because of the poor conversion factor of those qualities into quality output. Right from childhood, we all have noticed that some of us seem to lead the pack, not necessarily in academics. It’s more of a showing the way ahead, when many of us would see dark alleys ahead and others would just not dare to see at all. Some of those young leaders later fade out, some go ahead and assert themselves. And this is where the ‘born’ thing fades into oblivion.

With more steps on ahead in life, you tend to forget and forego some qualities, specifically leadership qualities. You see others taking decisions, and you following them, with minimal risk involved. The buck doesn’t stay with you. And you tend to accept things as it is. The braver ones take decisions, get them wrong, learn from them, build on them, and importantly carry on taking the initiative. The situation teaches them, moulds them.

There is nothing like a born-leader. There are certain traits which you might inherit, which influence the way you lead. But all the same they need to be inculcated within you. Leadership is more of a ‘nurture’ than a ‘nature’. Many of you have those qualities in you. They are lying dormant. And some of those around you, about whom you say, “This guy’s got leadership qualities” has nurtured them and built on inherited virtues. They weren’t taught. They learnt to be a leader by cultivating habits worth of being a leader.

However leadership schools which are so much in the limelight now, focus on creating leaders out of everybody. Brutally speaking, that can’t be true. You can’t go to an institution and learn some postulates and practice them on some corporates and become a leader. You have to feel it within you, trust your guts, and focus on improving the camaraderie with those around you. Indeed, it helps.

Leadership is a combination of right temperament, skills and personality. With discipline, practice, hit-and-trial, and right role-models, you can be a Leader. And most importantly, opportunity, luck and situation and confidence plays a huge role. Being in the right place at the right time always helps. It might be a cliché, but it works alright.

Leaders are not born. Leaders have some qualities, traits and virtues inborn within. Leaders nurture them with immense faith, conviction and confidence. Such practices can’t be taught, but learnt from the world around you. In most cases it’s a “Chips are down” kind of situation which bring out the qualities of a leader which would, otherwise, have remained suppressed.

Quoting Elaine B. Agather : “The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.”

P.S.:- This article was written on the foresaid topic for a certain publication.