Leaders Are Made, Not Born - A Myth Or Reality ?

I am in total disagreement with this article, published in Harvard business blog, that the "Leaders are Made not Born," because in my opinion: leaders are neither Born nor Made, but an optimum combination of both.

Read More: Leadership And Networking: Leaders Are Made, Not Born - A Myth Or Reality

Pl, don't forget to read the updates and also the comments on the blog, for getting a clear idea about the issue before sharing your comments.This article has raised a valid question against an accepted belief, but need a cool thought before arriving at any conclusion.

Dear Abhijit,

Leaders need not be born. They can be made too. Take a case of Mahatma Gandhi. If you read his book "My experiments with Truth" you will find that he was quite ordinary person but elevated himself to higher level by raising his will power.

There are some people who are born followers or made perfect followers too. Our Satyam fiasco is classic example. Mr Ramalinga Raju had been tampering with his account books since 2001. At least two to three dozen people were aware of what was happening. None came forward and disclosed of what was happening. Where was their leadership that time? Is leadership also a slavish obedience?

In the aftermath of Satyam scam, there were lot of interviews of eminent persons in the media. Amongst them included Mr Swaminathan S Aiyar too. He openly told that at least 10% corporate house could be cooking their account books. Now tell me has any senior official come forward and told that in their company, the accounts are being tampered?

In India, employers prefer born followers. Those who are not born with follower's qualities, they are made to imbibe those qualities. This arrangement suits them well.

Therefore, whether leaders are born or made this discussion lesser importance. In my training programmes, participants openly tell that if they were to exercise the qualities of the leadership, they may end up in losing their job. They have a fear that in their next employment possibly they may face similar trauma. Then why not to say 'yes' and say make the life goody-goody?

Ok...

Dinesh V Divekar
Management & Behavioural Training Consultant
Bangalore - 560 094
+91 9900155394

Limit of your words is limit of your world.

Dinesh

I suppose, you are active on linkedin also.In QA section, while answering to the same question one Mr Octavia has explained in details the factors influencing leadership qualities, and i have chosen that as the best response.Worth a look.