ASSIGNMENT QUESTION: Are leaders born or made? Definition of leadership: According to Northouse 2010, Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. By this definition, a leader is a person who rules or guides or inspires or influences others. A leader is someone other people are willing to follow, almost without question. A leader may not always make the right decision, but are confident in the decisions that they make. Leaders are not afraid to admit when they are wrong, they accepts responsibility and a leader know when to change direction when a wrong choice has been made. For, even after a few mistakes, a true leader will not lose the confidence of his or her followers; he will rally the followers to move together while creating opportunities for doing the right thing. Using the above definition, in my humble opinion leaders are made not born. If one has the desire and willpower, they can become a leader. As stated by Warren Bennis in his book on becoming a leader, leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. It is therefore impossible to be born with all the leadership abilities. A leader can only become a good leader if he or she has the humility and the will power to understand he/her-self and transform to be able to have followers. Historically, in African society folklore has been practicing the view that people are born leaders while others are not. Looking back to traditional African society, regardless of tribe, ethnicity or race, many Africans can trace their origins back to a monarchical or medieval system where the descendants of the ruling family found themselves plunged into leadership posi... ... middle of paper ... ...wn self-interest are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their people. The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to the organization. In employees' eyes, leadership is everything a leader do that affects the organization's objectives and employee’s wellbeing. A respected leader concentrates on what he or she is [be] (beliefs and character), what a leader knows (job, tasks, human nature), and what a leader does (implement, motivate, provide direction). What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future
Leadership can be defined as the ability of a superior to influence the behavior of a minor or group and persuade them to follow a particular course of action. A leader sets a course of action and ensures that everyone follows the action. Leading can apply to leading oneself, other individuals, groups, organizations and societies. The nature of how leading is done depends on the framework of the situation, one's point of view, and on the nature and needs of those involved. While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader are influenced by their traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and most importantly character.
Since we are all born, the best answer to this question is: leaders are born and then made. A good leader is always moving forward; he never repeats the same thing! They strives to seek new experiences and they are in a constant self improving mode, that means he takes in information from a multitude of sources, including but not limited to his own interpretation of life experiences, observations, journals, website, informal training from an excellent mentor as well as from more formal training that is given in an academic setting.
The vision of leadership that leaders are born made, and not learn to be leaders is still considered but not popular among researchers (Avolio et al, 2013).
I first encountered the significance of leadership in the tenth grade. Berry College the largest campus in the U.S. was in search of school ambassadors to serve part in a seminar known as HOBY. To get chosen you had to write an essay describing your leadership roles, and at that moment I thought that I did not have any. I literally did not know what it meant to be a leader. I had to brainstorm till I remembered going through one of the most difficult times of my life. The lack of understanding the English language became one of my biggest obstacles, and even caused me to repeat a chapter of my life. However, I did not cease; I continued to fight and strove to help others who were susceptible of following my steps. I used my story as an example, and hoped that it would make a difference in someone else’s life.
Leaders are characterized by their traits. These are sought by their followers. The followers look for honesty, integrity, compassion, drive, determination and a vast array of other traits, which set a leader out from the crowd. Being treated fairly and with empowerment can make admirers follow a leader into almost any situation.
Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and inspire others (Gill, 2006). It is therefore defined as a process whereby a leader influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2013). A leader has to make a decision for something to happen and provide his followers with clear direction (Rost et al, 1991). It will evoke feelings of challenge, excitement and involvement for the followers to proceed with the task (Gill, 2006).
Early leadership theories focused on the qualities that distinguished leaders and followers, while later theories considered situational factors, specific skills and interpersonal relationships (Rost, 2007). The Great Man Theory and other trait theories suggest that leaders are born, not made. “Leadership comes from an inherited set of qualities and traits that make some individuals, usually men, better suited for leadership” Northouse, (2007) p. 162).
A leader is described as a person who guides others and has authority and influence over others. They work to influence others into meeting certain goals. There is no right or wrong definition of a leader and there is no recipe that ensures effective leadership. Successful leaders have a good balance of vision, influence, and power. Leaders gain their authority from their ability to influence others to get the work done; because of this, anyone has the potential to be a leader. (Finkelman. 2012, p15)
A leader refers to an individual who has the capability of influencing others to attain an outcome that is desired. How leaders accomplish this is based in part on their style of leadership and involves various perspectives between different people. It is worthwhile noting that some leaders show a form that is charismatic whereas some exhibit a transformation aspect. However, as much as these styles of leadership are aimed at helping us to understand the leadership techniques of various people, the element of what makes a leader great is not addressed. The reason is that there is no precise observation on whether leaders are born, or they are made.
The Greek statesman Solon stated, “He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.” Approximately 250 years later, the Greek philosopher Aristotle asserted the converse of that statement when he said, “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” The concept of following seems to have been an important idea in ancient Greek times, but why is this idea of being a good follower important to today’s military leader? In order to be a truly effective leader, one must first learn to be a truly effective follower. Learning to be an effective follower is a required facet of effective leadership because we follow others at times, we learn by following, and we develop future leaders by following.
There are many different things I think of when I think of what leadership means to me. My idea of leadership is to be able to inspire others, get them excited to do something, motivate them and set an example to others. I also think that showing respect to others is a key part of leadership. You don’t just need leadership qualities, but you need to be a successful leader. To me being a successful leader is being able to have people follow you and not disrespect you. If you are a great leader your followers start to respect you more. To be a leader you also need to have certain qualities like being sociable, intelligent, have patience to deal with situations. A leader needs to be motivated or they will be a failure. I think I show leader ship all the time inside and outside of school. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way (John C. Maxwell).
Being a good leader means being able to guide people or organizations such as businesses. Being a leader means you have leadership in you, it means you have a set of skills that not everyone can possess and you can apply them to the situation that you are in. Not everyone can be a leader because not everyone can step up and take over a situation or maybe they don’t care enough to do something about it. A leader has to possess the following and more qualities, honesty, communication skills, confidence, commitment, intuition, a positive attitude, and creativity.
Leadership is complex to define In the past century, more than 10,000 articles have been published about leadership. Through the decades, the complex definition of leadership has intrigued the masses. In the book The Extraordinary Leader, the authors Zenger and Folkman write that there has been no way to define the different constituencies of the leader (Folkman, 2009). According to J.M. Burns, “Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.” Leadership is a p...
Many people believe that leadership is simply being the first, biggest or most powerful. Leadership in organizations has a different and more meaningful definition. A leader is someone who sets direction in an effort or task and influences or motivates people to follow that direction. The power point presentation explains leadership is the influence that particular individuals exert on the goal achievement of others in an organizational context.
Leadership can be defined as the ability to direct the operations, activity, or performance of others. A leader is an individual who leads, guides or inspires others. A leader is someone who will take charge of a group or be vocal amongst others. However, to be a leader, one must not only have the ability to take charge or be vocal, but also must have the respect of others in the group, team, or organization. With leadership, perception is the better part of reality: Being a good leader may be difficult if followers do not perceive the individual as one (Altar 2006). A leader must know what his or her followers think. Most important leaders will say that leadership ability is the single most important personal attribute that one needs to succeed.