Are leaders born or made?

Some people are born leaders while are others are made to be leaders. Leadership capability can be said to fall in a curve where people at the top of the top of the curve of leadership emerge early as very good leaders who seems to get better as they move along. Others fall at the bottom of this curve so that they try so hard to be leaders and at times fail.  The majority falls at the centre of the curve and this point has a great potential.  This means that leaders are mostly made since it is not expected that a person would come with all necessary tools for leadership at birth considering how social groups and social processes are known to be complex (Mumford, 2010).  

The few people who are born leaders can be explained through the Trait Theories. The theories hold that a person inherits specific qualities that differentiate them from rest and make them leaders. In this case, a suggestion that leaders do not come into the world possessing exceptional endowment is to say that people are born bearing equal talents and abilities (Mumford, 2010).  There are some specific inherent traits which predisposes a person to be a leader. This can be compared to the same way that some people are born extraordinary athletic and musical talents, so that they succeed naturally in such areas. Other people may struggle a lot trying to be at par with their performances. Born leaders have a remarkable history where they showed leadership capabilities at the start of their journey (Mumford, 2010).

 The leaders who are made can be explore through behavioral theories which holds that a person will become a leader through a development process where they are taught, learn and then observe. This means that their leadership skills were imparted after being trained, practicing, perceiving and then gained experience overtime. Hence, leadership becomes a lifetime activity so that good leaders are provided favorable environment and opportunities that allow them to gain new skills (Lussier & Achua, 2015). This means that anybody can be trained to become a leader even if they do not possess inherent leadership qualities.

Reference

Mumford, M. D. (2010). Leadership 101. New York: Springer Pub.

Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.