Posts
by William "Frank" Villanueva, PhD, MBA
Scholars
have spent decades researching what makes certain people stand out as leaders. Did
they get leadership training in college, through on the job training, or were
they just born with an inherent ability to influence others? The debate has
always focused on whether people are born
leaders or is leadership a learned behavior. Business guru Peter Drucker struggled
with the concept of leadership as a learned trait. However, in his book The Practice of
Management, he contended that there
was no “substitute for leadership." He also argued “management cannot
create leaders," but only the "conditions under which potential leadership”
can be applied to successfully execute a business strategy. In contrast, Ronald
E. Riggio, PhD notes that “leadership
is about one-third born, and two-thirds made.”
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Leadership is an essential ingredient to
the success of any business industry. Strategic managers use leadership skills to motivate employees into following the company’s vision to achieve long-term goals. The action of great leaders have been responsible for
many of the life-changing events around the world. Leaders such as President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. Army General George S. Patton, Martin Luther King
Jr., NFL Head Coach Vince Lombardi, General Motors CEO Dan Akerson, and Yahoo
CEO Marissa Mayer have influenced millions of people to “follow their lead”
with remarkable success.
In
his book On Becoming a Leader, Warren G. Bennis proposes that leadership is about
character and judgment and that these attributes are inherent to the individual
and as such, cannot be learned. Nevertheless, Warren G. Bennis and Burt Nanus further
argue that the art of practicing leadership to execute a business strategy
–doing the right thing- is not genetically inherited, but it is rather a
learned discipline.
Warren
G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas conducted research on leadership behavior and
concluded that leaders are shaped by “transformational"
events called "crucibles." Most of us have been in a situation where
we are forced to "take charge" or follow a leader without hesitation.
In the military, I was exposed to many leadership styles, which helped me to refine my leadership skills. I was fortunate to work for some outstanding leaders while I
also experienced the misery of working for someone who was given the position
as a leader, but did not perform as such. I believe that there are no bad
leaders, only better leaders than others. A person who is in a leadership
position cannot be considered a leader until he or she is successful at influencing
others.
As
an adolescent –and the oldest of four siblings- I was placed in positions of
higher responsibility and thus became a leader to my siblings. I learned about
accountability and delegation from my parents, and this put an enormous amount
of pressure on me. Instead of just worrying about my well-being, I found myself
looking for ways to influence my siblings into behaving a certain way to please
my parents. As
a basketball player -during my childhood years- I learned how to follow the
leader. I would listen and learn from the head coach and team captain, and this
allowed me to compare their leadership styles with the way I behaved as a
leader within my own family circle.
When I joined the U.S. Navy at the
tender age of 18, I felt prepared to follow other leaders so when the time was
right, I was ready to take charge and become a successful leader. I often think to myself if I was I born a leader or did my life-learning experiences and values transformed me into a leader? My upbringing along with my 21 years of military
service –most of them in leadership positions- have allowed me to learn and experience
leadership in ways that transformed me into the leader I am today. As I reflect back on my early leadership experiences, the main lesson I learned was that regardless of the situation, all leaders aspire the same: to motivate and influence others to achieve a common goal.
Do
you think leaders are born or simply made? Let me know your thoughts on this
very important subject.
"If your actions inspire others to dream
more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” (U.S. President John Quincy Adams).
Dr. William
"Frank" Villanueva is a freelance writer, former business owner, and U.S. Navy veteran with over 25
years of leadership experience.
I have some background on leadership and management (Air Force leadership opportunities and training from cadet leadership training all the way thru Air War College, MS in Systems Management, DBA from AIU). But for this topic I defer to my mother, who does not even have a high school education – not her fault; when she was in grade school she lived next to Sumitomo Heavy Industry in Wakayama, Japan during World War II. The US leveled every school in the area and she had no opportunity to complete her education. But she is quite wise, and by observing infants, she forecasts what kind of person she thinks they will become, such as, “This one is a born leader”. For that particular forecast, she told me, she observed: quiet confidence, intelligence, and bearing, while in the crib. For the most part, she is correct in her character forecasts. There are many times that the environment and life in general influences people – the strongest child can temporarily lose their self-esteem and confidence when their parents, peers, or teachers belittle or have low expectations of them. However, based on my 56 years of observations, I believe the individual’s core constitution eventually allow them to stand up again and regain the intestinal fortitude they were born with. My vote is that great leaders are born, survive their environment, educated, then make or given the opportunity.
ReplyDelete“What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”-Dwight Eisenhower
It sounds like you mother is indeed a very wise woman. You wrote "My vote is that great leaders are born." I can appreciate your point of view which was well articulated and provocative. There have been instances where I have seen a child interact with other children and instinctively “take charge” of any situation. There is definitely a great argument for “born leaders.”
DeleteThank you for sharing your wisdom…