Are leaders born or made?

PSM310 Leadership and Business Acumen Are leaders born or made? Justin Di Giulio

Are leaders born or made? Justin V Di Giulio1i FCILTA, AFAIM, CPMgr Parcel Locker 10012 59584 Docklands, Victoria, 3008 Email for correspondence: [email protected] 1

Abstract This paper examines an age old question of whether leaders are born or made. The paper considers various leadership theories and discusses different viewpoints to consider this question. Keywords: leadership, trait theory, emotional intelligence, behavioural theories

Introduction Are leaders born not made? That is a question which has been plaguing people interested in leadership for centuries. There is no one definitive answer which has successfully been proven. If they cannot be made, then this debate should be concluded here, and we should be investing our time in genetic research to identify the genes which have these traits pre-programmed in DNA. If they can be made, then this justifies the industry that has emerged over the last ten or so years for leadership consultants and experts in the field. This paper examines this question and examines and attempts to provide an insight on different leadership theories to that end.

Definition of Leadership The definition of leadership which has been adopted in this paper as being, “a process by which a person influences others to accomplish objectives or a goal, by guiding them to ensure a cohesive and coherent direction”. Northouse (2007, p3) Page 1 of 6 Justin V Di Giulio

defines leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals in a new way to achieve a common goal” which is similar, and as such it was adopted as it resonated strongly with the author. Many theories of leadership exist, and countless definitions exist. Authors such as Sorensen (Sorensen 2000, p1) indicate that “human beings have been keenly interested in leaders and leadership”, inferring great philosophers and thinkers have been wrestling with this concept for eras. Sorensen provides an insight into the origin of the term “leader”, having first appeared in English language from the 1300’s, and its meaning was “to travel” or “to show the way”. So inherently, at minimum, leaders must show a new way towards a common goal.

Leadership theories The contrast between Plato’s The Republic (in Lee, 1955) and Machiavelli’s The Prince (in Thomson, 2001) clearly shows that historically, leaders can be moral or immoral, good or evil, fair or


untrustworthy. This is an interesting point, and though preferred that a “great leader” be “good” the author contends that it is not absolute, and great leaders can lead bad or immoral pursuits or organisations, though these types of leaders tend to be named other titles, as there is a tendency in modern culture to avoid praising negative or “bad” leaders. There are many examples of great leaders, where their characteristics and traits have been studied.

Discussion As stated previously, human beings have been interested in studying leaders for centuries. Studying great leaders was a way of analysing the characteristics of the leader so that these could be understood and emulated. This study has been called “Great Man theory” and later “Trait theory”, which is discussed further in the next section of this paper. In a modern context, leadership, as an academic field has emerged really in the twentieth century. Bass (in Sorensen 2000, p3) credits James MacGregor Burns as being the instrumental researcher who triggered an avalanche of research into the topic of leadership after a 1978 lecture on the subject. He is widely recognised as the father of leadership studies, and since then, many academic institutions and academics focussing on the topic particularly in the past decade. The past ten years has seen a significant increase in leadership material produced, which continues to beg the questions that if a leader is born and not developed, then why study it? Is it nature or nurture? “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 Page 2 of 6 Justin V Di Giulio

nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.” Bennis (n.d.). Some great leaders emerge over time and throughout history, there are many examples of this. In more modern times, people like Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Dr Martin Luther King are but to name a few. “Great Man” theory was the first emergent theory of leadership, as it was a first attempted to describe how leadership existed. These people were characterised as heroic almost mystical figures destined to rise to leadership. This theory suggests that these great men were somehow naturally skilled and would change the world in some way. Carlyle (1840) popularised this theory in the 1840’s, and in later years, Spencer (1896) argued successfully that great men are the product of their society, and that their actions would be impossible without the social conditions built before their lifetime. Spencer (1896, p34) points out, "[Y]ou must admit that the genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown, before he can remake his society, his society must make him.” In other words, the society in which the leader has grown up in, prepares him to be a leader, and only then he can take all his experiences and lead and reform society for the better. In later studies of leadership, Galton (Oliver et al., 2008) a psychologist spearheaded a field of study called Trait theory which attempted to identify individual leaders’ traits and to develop a


set of characteristics that others can understand and study. Trait theory in its simplest form naturally accords with the view that leaders are born not made, as it studies individuals and then attempts to cluster a core of attributes. These include, achievement, influence, responsibility (Stogdill 1974), drive, motivation, (Kirkpatrick et al. 1991), self-confidence (Stogdill 1948), cognitive ability, honesty and integrity, (Zaccaro et al. 2004), and interpersonal skills (McCall 1983). The information does provide a comprehensive list, however it shows a good sample of some of the key traits that have been identified with trait theory and which academics have discussed. The benefit of these two theories is that they provide a general indication of a person’s leadership potential. It provides an opportunity for organisations to be able to identify people who may have some leadership skills, for which they can be further developed. Criticism levelled at these theories question why people who possess these skills are sometimes not leaders. Furthermore, why is it that in some circumstances, CEO’s perform excellently, yet in another environment they may fail abysmally? This suggests that there are other factors at play. These theories also rely on a level of subjectiveness to assess the traits in the first instance. While it is conceded that traits do play a key role in identifying leadership, it is likely that this is only an indicator and that we should be searching more deeply. A recent study (Hannah 2013, p 393) from Wake University found that there are neurological differences in the brains of people who had been indicated as leaders. This type of research may make it possible to identify future leadership candidates through brain scans. Page 3 of 6 Justin V Di Giulio

An interesting statement by Lombardi, (n.d.) is “Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” Parallels can be drawn with music, that there are talented performers such as singers, who despite no training, are able to perform with excellence. What many may not consider and what may be discounted, is that, that person may have grown up with singers as parents, or listened to a lot of music or the like, and was surrounded by influences and had inadvertent ‘informal’ training. They may have had raw talent which as a consequence of their various experiences had moulded them. Many believe that nurturing skills and growing them is the key to successful leadership. Basketball superstar Jordon, M. (n.d.) is quoted as saying “Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” This suggests that everyone has ability, and that anyone can grow and develop into someone who is competent and possibly even very good. The role of a person’s preferences may influence how fast they develop themselves and in what areas that they may develop. If they have natural interests which favour what is considered leadership traits they may be more interested in further building and developing these skills, and hence, one day become effective leaders. Behavioural leadership theories assume leaders can be developed and that leadership and leadership skills can be learned. One of the more famous theories was Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid (1964) which sought to define behavioural traits and map them against two axis,


concern for people and concern for production. This attempted to define different leadership styles based on these dimensions. Research solely on behaviours eventually lost steam, as there was inconsistencies in the research’s situations in which they were applied. More recent research has focused on the importance of “context or the larger system in which a leader and followers work” (Allen et al, 2012). Two models of “Emotional Intelligence” (EI) currently exist, these are namely the ability model (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) and a mixed model (Bar-On, 2006; Goleman, 1995). Goleman (1995) focused his research on four basic competencies. These four competency areas included selfawareness, social awareness, selfmanagement and social skills. People who displayed higher levels of ability in these areas were considered to have higher emotional intelligence. Increasingly research suggests that Emotional Intelligence plays a very important role in determining leadership success in life. Furthermore, after extensive research, Bar-On (2006) developed a measure to determine how effective leaders may be by determining their emotional intelligence quotient (E.Q.). People with higher E.Q. scores, are considered to have high levels of emotional intelligence and hence perform better in the work environment in settings where empathy and soft-skills are required. Easlis (2012) indicates employees with higher E.Q.’s have higher employee satisfaction scores. As a consequence of this research, other fields of study have emerged. An interesting theory called “Emotionally intelligent leadership” (Allen, 2012) has Page 4 of 6 Justin V Di Giulio

emerged and combines research in emotional intelligence and leadership theory in an integrated fashion in an attempt to understand and define how these two areas of study work together. So, can emotional intelligence be learned, or is innate in the person? Goldsmith (2009) undertook a review of research by Delphine (2009, p. 36) that it can be achieved. Goldsmith (2009) states “Delphine and her colleagues found that members of the group that received the training showed a significant improvement in their ability to identify their feelings and the feelings of others, as well as to manage and control their emotions. What's more, these improvements were apparent not only right after the training but also six months later.” Conclusion There are many differing views on whether leaders are born or made. This paper attempts to examine some of the theories and provide some additional perspectives on this topic. These perspectives include whether leadership is a trait of individuals, whether leaders are born with neurological differences, or whether emotional intelligence can be developed. It is this author’s contention that similar to other types of talents, leadership as a skill can be learned. There may be a small percentage of leaders who may be born with individual traits which lend itself to leadership, but leadership itself can be learned, especially by committed individuals who display an interest in doing so.

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The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those solely of the author, and do not necessarily constitute those of the Victorian State Government and/or past employers.

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