The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born — that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.
– Warren Bennis
I could not agree more. Good leadership is about making your people happy and while that certainly comes easier and more naturally to some people, almost anyone can learn.
what I would like to add is that the quote is mostly right…
Leadership is something that can be learned BUT different people need to learn it form different examples.
It comes in different forms.
Not everybody can be a Napoleon and not everybody can be a Gandhi but each of us can find a style of leadership that will suit us. :)
Well spoken. There are many ways to be a good leader and many ways to arrive at good leadership.
I totally agree. Good leadership isn’t something available only to certain people but something we have to learn. Anyone willing to be a good leader is always welcome.
It’s true that everyone can be a good leader. It’s a skill that we have to learn and work hard for, and not something we were born with.
I think you’re wrong, Kjerulf……. You cannot teach good leadership to almost anyone. You can sell leadership training to almost anyone, because almost anyone wants to believe that they can be good leaders, so they’ll pay up if you tell them it’s possible. But that doesn’t mean that it IS possible, or that it’s any good. They’ll pay up because they WANT to be told that it’s possible.
It’s like preaching religion…. You tell people that they can go to heaven. And people flock to you. Not because it’s true. But because people want to believe it’s true.
Same thing with leadership training…. You can sell it. But it’s not true.
Howie & Charlie: Thanks!
Bag of Bones: There is certainly a huge difference between selling leadership training and actually making leaders out of people. The former is easily done the latter may take more work.
And I’m not claiming that absolutely anyone can learn. It may even be more relevant to discuss who wants (or doesn’t want) to learn.
The assertion here is that leadership is not some ingrained feature that you’re either born with or not. It CAN be taught to most people.