Could You Be A Born Leader?

The popular answer to this question is a resounding ‘’no!’’ We like to believe that anyone can be a leader. But to get perfectly clear on this issue, we need to go a bit deeper than the usual answer. The truth is that it’s a bit of both. To be a leader, you need to know what qualities count and whether you can develop those you may be lacking.

Compare being a leader with excelling in sports or music. Was Tiger Woods a born golf champion? Was Mozart a born musical genius? The answer is ‘’yes and no.’’ Mozart was likely born with certain musical talent, but his father was determined to make him a musician. He got him playing instruments at a very early age and took him on tours to perform music, much of which he composed himself. Similarly, Tiger Woods no doubt was born with some talent for sports in general if not golf in particular. But, like Mozart, he had a father who got him working hard at an early age on his game. So, in both of these examples, the natural talent was nourished through hard work over several years.

Those who say you can learn to be a leader focus on influencing skills and, surely, these can be learned. A different school of thought states that the drive to lead equates to the motivation to dominate a group, much like in the animal kingdom. On this view, the strongest person, the most intelligent, or the one with the strongest drive to win ends up on top of the heap. The ability and motivation to dominate varies widely across people and is likely something we are born with.

Suppose the essence of leadership is pulling people of diverse viewpoints together to form a unified whole that works together to achieve mutually agreed goals. To do this well, you need solid relationship building and influencing skills. As we acknowledged above, we can learn these skills, but the truth is that most of us can shift ourselves in these skill areas only so much. If you are a strong introvert, shy and reserved, you may struggle to become really skilled with people. You could take a public speaking or presentation skills course, but will this make you into a Martin Luther King? Not likely.

To get to the bottom of this controversy, we need a sharper understanding of what it means to show leadership. If our model of leadership is based on admired heads of countries or large organizations we will expect them to have superhuman abilities, many of which are out of reach of mere mortals. Looking at smaller scale leadership, suppose you are a product developer. The person who created Sony’s Playstation had difficulty convincing Sony executives to buy this product. They felt that Sony should not be into toys. The inventor of Playstation showed bottom-up leadership because he had the courage of his convictions. He was prepared to risk his career to challenge the status quo. Such determination is not as easily learned as influencing skills. It’s like youthful rebelliousness. If you are cautious or risk averse, chances are you were born or became that way early in life. Being willing to stick your neck out is not a learned skillset.

So, what can you learn? As we noted above, you can develop better communication and influencing skills, within limits. An extreme introvert is not likely to ever become the life and soul of the party. If this is you, it is still possible to develop ways of making a leadership impact. The key is to make sure you have your facts straight, to build a solid case for your proposal.

Bottom line: Some people are born with, or develop early in life, a drive to speak out and say something new, to be a bit of a rebel. This is not about learnable skills. However, you can improve your influencing ability. The truth is that everyone can be a leader, but some can only lead in small scale, local contexts, like convincing your colleagues to work in a different way. Not everyone has the natural talent to rise to the top of large organizations or is able to learn how to be such a larger-than-life leader. Thinking otherwise is simply self-deception. If you want to lead, ask yourself what you can do, in your particular context, to convince your colleagues to move in a different direction. Also, ask yourself how willing you are to stick your neck out, in short, to risk rejection.

By: Mitch McCrimmon

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Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D. has over 30 years experience in executive assessment and coaching. His latest book is Burn! 7 Leadership Myths in Ashes. See www.leadersdirect.com for more information.