Is Leadership skills Born ? or Trained ?

I don't think you can group (say) Genghis Khan and Ghandi into the same 'leadership' group... they were completely on opposite ends as to how they led.

I think that you can certainly be born with the pre-disposition to be outgoing and fearless, which makes it easier to lead. But good leaders come in all shapes and sizes. People follow leaders based on decisions that the leader makes... the more good decisions you make, the more people will feel comfortable following you.... Ghandi's revolution by passive means just felt right to millions of Indians and they followed him.

... in other words, people follow winners. And you win by your decisions.

How about I tell you it's not one of the two ... imo ... I say your surroundings play one of the biggest parts in who you become ... let's say you could go back in time ... and we take one kid as an example ... And because we can go back in time, we can put the same kid in two different situations ...

In situation A the kid is raised by an abusing father and an alcoholic mother and stays there until he/she is 17 ... in this situation the kid realizes that he/she needs to do something about the life he/she had and gets a job and then later becomes the leader of an organization for kids with parents just like his/hers

In situation B the kid is raised by middle class parents that are loving and are happy with how the kid does at school and socially, the kid goes to college, studies something and gets a job ... no leader.

Now this could just as easily be the other way around, but what I'm saying is, is that your surroundings have a HUGE impact on who you become ... and I really think that that is the key factor.

hmmmm, R_T, i don't really agree with that. Some kids get worse when their in abusive family. And some normal kids go extraordinary just because they have this "calling". I remember reading this story, "Buddha was the prince to a king, and he left the palace to suffer...."
I'm not buddhist. But just to relate this story, to show that normal, wealthy people can as well be successful, even more successful or ruin their lives terribly. It's in their head i think. Something like born within them.

But, to my puzzle, for the past 2 days, I grabbed 2 books from the library about leaderships, it says otherwise. Today, in this modern age, leaderships are made.......

Sorry, haven't summarized what is the whole idea about, will post back if I find it interesting.

http://www.slideshare.net/robertsonlee/ ... l-theories

2 years ago, I had interest in researching about Leadership on my own. Yesterday, I completed an assignment and it was about something that caught my interest 2 years ago. You can view the document 10 pages from the link above. Comments are welcome.

I think there's a difference between being a "leader", and being someone people are compelled to follow.

You can train to be a "leader", but are mostly born and naturally develop into a person others are compelled to follow.

Put the two traits together and you've got a president, cult leader, superstar, etc...

Leadership skills are Born.

Actually I agree with you, SunLightMedia and irfan917.

Recently I saw posters around the College campus recruiting Students Council with the Hallmark title "Leaders are Made"

I shrugged inwardly to myself with dismay, because I have seen some pupils from the campus just Don't Get It -- to be a leader.

I think it has both like the sides of a coin ,because if you have a guts to lead a people is depends upon your family blood with the help of training you just can improve it and move it to perfection .

Since this has being dug up from the old files, I'll post my two cents on this topic.



Actually, most of those people you posted are kings/nobles or someone of high class. They were all taught to be a leader. The kings were taught when they were still a prince.

The other nobles went to good schools and things like that.


I believe that this has a big factor into determining whether the kid would be a leader or not.

In your situation a, instead of him being repulsed to the abusive parents, (he could, I'm not throwing that possibility away), what I'm saying, that only strengthens the kids resolve and resilience. Makes the kid strong which is a big factor in leadership. After that s/he needs to nurture the leadership capabilities acquired during the surroundings. Hardship really changes people.

I'll bring in an example of my personal life in this. When I was young I used to be vary passive about what people do around me. I didn't really care since it didn't affect me. When I got to middle school and up, I started noticing myself giving people orders on where to stand during a baseball game or even dodge-ball

Later on though I stopped giving orders and became 'somewhat' passive. I'm not as passive as I used to be, but I'm also not as bossy as I used to be. By passive I mean I didn't really care for what others do around me, I didn't care to tell them what they are doing wrong/bad when I notice something that they have done that I feel is not right.

Now, I just let them notice, suggest a few things (if they are my friends) but I don't try and force them

Leadership can be born and can be trained. You just need to get the motivation, desire, and a real need for it. Like if you are in situation a in R_T's example, maybe it's not abusive parents, maybe it's just poverty, but you will get sick and tired of it and would like to turn things over. Maybe you would stay poor, but since you lived through it, you know how to survive, you are strengthened, then you are able to tell people what to do in poverty to survive.

Another thing I feel that goes into leadership is that you can be a leader in something you are very well versed. A poor guy wouldn't be a leader in telling people how to make money. A poor guy would be able to be a leader in telling people how to survive in those conditions.

An abused child could be a leader in surviving the parents. But that isn't where it ends. The skill in leadership can spread, like cancer spreads (bad example, I'm sorry).

Also, you can't be a leader if you haven't followed a leader.

Alright, this might have being more than 2 cents... sorry.

I usually read bout history..I think true leaders are born..