The proverbial question, are leaders born or made.
There’s something Marvel-esque about being known as a “natural born leader”.
Yet, science has proven that leaders are made.
However, we asked the CEO of Leadership in Public Safety, the former Director of AZ DPS, Col. Frank Milstead.
The answer…Yes. We can refer to the age-old debate of nature vs nurture but the truth lands somewhere between.
When asked what makes a hero, you will get a multitude of answers. Most will say, bravery and luck.
It’s this pervasive belief that leadership is an innate skill. Some people have and others don’t.
Throughout history, there are stories recounting the traits of natural leaders, each citing various qualities. We all want to tap into that expertise.
Think back to the best leaders you’ve worked with, or ones you’ve hired, chances are there was an effortless to their behavior, an attitude that felt natural.
The next question: was it actually natural? Or the more important question, can leadership be learned?
The Answer: absolutely.
Most of us would agree, good leadership is a skill, and like most skills, they can be learned. there is no universal definition of a great leader.
In the same way we see others specialize, we will see leaders who lead in different ways. One might be prone to detail or uncovering new methods. Another might have instincts in other areas, while another might be empathetic and inspirational.
Take a moment to think of the worst leaders you’ve known or ever worked with. What stands out? Many of us learn more from bad leadership, than we have from good leaders.
let’s get back to the question we posed in the title: “are leaders born or made?” Like all skills, some people are just more likely to be better than others. To say otherwise would be disingenuous.
But the whole point of framing leadership as a skill was to underline that leaders don’t have to be naturally born. Skills can learned. Leadership can be trained.
The problem is, a lot of organizations don’t realize this. They have these individual contributors who do well and they want to keep them around. So they promote them. They give them senior titles with more responsibility and eventually, the next step is management. Suddenly, they’re moving from being responsible for some tangible work into a role where they’re responsible for something more valuable. They’re now responsible for people.
Now, consider the position of the newly promoted manager. They’ve been great at their job but, no agency, no business can afford to have this new manager winging it and hoping for the best.
We assist these agencies, businesses and individuals with emerging leaders and new managers. It’s vital that you don’t assume being a great contributor translates naturally into being a great leader.
Giving them that promotion and/or responsibility is a perilous investment and it’s necessary to receive and continue learning through real leadership training.
Our training protocol is a wide spectrum that covers everything from personal pairing with mentors to leadership training for group and individual, conferences with guest speakers, confidential coaching for broad and specific issues (can be virtual, access to legal avenues of support, and more. All are part of our curriculum and services. In fact, there is no area we can’t assist you with.
As leadership is a skill and no two people do it exactly the same, no two people learn how to lead in the exact same way either. Each of you will draw from different personal experiences that lean into different natural traits and We encourage this.
Whether you’re born to it or not, training leaders, addressing issues and connecting assets, isn’t something that simply happens.
Current leaders have ownership by investing their time and institutional knowledge in solutions that increase leadership quality of both natural and learned leaders.
You want to look for solutions that don’t overpromise, that are methodical with a personal approach.
leadership is an inherently personal thing. We all do it differently. But what separates good leaders from not-so-good leaders is that the good ones lead with authenticity. They aren’t playing a role, they’re being themselves.
Solutions and approaches that pair emerging leaders with coaches or internal mentors are especially valuable, as they help uncover and hone styles that come naturally to your leaders, even if leading itself isn’t wholly natural.
Self-awareness is a key part of the equation and solutions that treat leaders as individuals.
In the end, the question of whether leaders are born or made isn’t the most important question. Rather, the important question is how to get the most out of every leader, and how to access long term knowledge.
by realizing that leadership is a skill. It can be learned and improved. It’s like a muscle that gets stronger the more it’s used.
By Investing in training, it will give both the emerging and established leaders the ability to exercise that muscle.
We provide that personal coaching and mentorship that helps them uncover their style and the right approach for them. We Invest in them so they continue investing in their job.
We assign our leaders for your specific needs. We assist with real-world skills, focus on problems and provide the training for areas of concern. With confidential assessment and assistance, we provide a smarter more authentic leadership path.
So, whether you are born to lead or learn how to do it, you can be better at it, more successful, and become more valuable. Look at Alex:
Alexander the Great, one of the greatest generals of all time and one of the most powerful personalities of antiquity, was born in 356 bc in Macedonia. Alexander’s mother, Olympias, was descended from Achilles, the mythical hero of the Iliad, while Alexander’s father, Philip II of Macedonia, was said to descend from Zeus’s son Heracles.
During Alexander’s training with Leonidas ( the greek leader of 300 Who held off thousands), it is said the young Prince decided to throw two fistfuls of incense on the altar fire during a religious ceremony. This would have caused a division and ousted him as a leader, yet, Due to the influence of another leader, Aristotle….,Alexander developed a strong interest in medicine. This knowledge of medicine would position him to care for his soldiers’ wounds and sickness, all of which led him to become ALEXANDER THE GREAT.