Are Leaders Born or Made?

Leaders: Born or Made? 1









Are Leaders Born or Made?

Leaders: Born or Made? 2





Table of Contents



Introduction……………………………….….……………………………..……………...….…..3



Definition of Leadership……....……………………….………………………..….......................4



Leadership Characteristics……………………………….………………………..…....................4



Intrinsic Characteristics…..……………………….………………………………...………….…5



Extrinsic Characteristics…..……………………….………………………………………..….…6



Conclusion…...……………………………………………………………………………………7



References…………………………………………………………………………….……….…..8

Leaders: Born or Made? 3





Are Leaders Born or Made?



The debate over the source of leadership has been ongoing for decades and will most likely never



be fully answered. After fifty years of collecting information on this topic, most psychologists



believe that leadership qualities are innate or genetic and thus impossible to learn; yet research



indicates that leadership skills can be developed (Avolio, 1999). In order to examine this



question the definition of leadership must be explained. Furthermore, this paper will attempt to



define characteristics of leadership associated with leading effectively. Once these characteristics



are outlined, this paper will examine whether or not these attributes can be learned or if they are



innately programmed into one’s psyche.

Leaders: Born or Made? 4





Leadership Defined



Leadership is the process of influencing others to work effectively and willingly towards



a common goal (Leadership, n.d.). According to the viewpoint of Griffin and Moorhead (n.d.),



leadership is both a process and a property. Leadership as a process is “the use of noncoercive



influence to direct and coordinate the activities of group members to meet goals. As a property,



leadership is a set of characteristics attributed to those who are perceived to be influential”



(Leadership, n.d., para. 3).



Although there are hundreds of definitions of leadership, Cashman (1998) defines



leadership as “authentic self-expression that creates value” (p. 20). Noteworthy in this definition



is the word authentic because authenticity is a quality people look for in a leader (Kouzes &



Posner, 2003). Credibility is not one’s physical prowess, attractiveness or charm, rather a



principle that is characteristic of a leader as generated from trust and integrity.



Leadership Characteristics



Most people agree that leaders should express certain traits or qualities but there has



never been any clear definition for what these traits should optimally be. A leader’s style, and



effectiveness for that matter, is the perceived influence on others which may be expressed



through verbal or non-verbal means (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson, 2001).



A leader is effective through characteristics such as communication, physical prowess,



cognitive and practical intelligence, and intuition. One’s ability to lead effectively directly



correlates with one’s ability to produce intended results as well as one’s relations with others.



Effective leadership, therefore, can be attributed partly to how well the leader influences others



but also by how much they inspire (Coupland, 2008).

Leaders: Born or Made? 5





Intrinsic Characteristics



A simple approach to finding the source of leadership is to believe that one’s leadership



effectiveness is genetic (Leadershi