Leaders are Made and not Born!
One of the most curious questions about leadership is — Are Leaders born or made?
Many of the researches have proved that Leaders are ‘mostly made.’ The statistics shared by them is also interesting i.e. one-third born and two-thirds made.
The leadership qualities to lead, motivate and direct a group of people — whether business or politics — are backed by a set of skills, mostly acquired through experiences, self-development as well as through coaching.
One cannot expect a person to be born perfectly with all the qualities and skillsets with the ability to influence and lead the people around him.
We can find many such examples in which Leaders were made and that shows leaders can indeed be developed. However — and we should also not forget the one third — there are some intrinsic qualities that the great leaders possess naturally which they use to their advantage.
1.The Key Leadership Skills
The Skills to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others to do things decide what can you achieve in your life. The most effective leaders are those who can manage to achieve important goals through the trust and cooperation of other people.
2. Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time
All successful Leaders choose the right action at the right time and stay focussed on their Goals and Vision. They must be courageous, self-aware — and ensure the consistent support of their team of followers.
3. Successful Leaders Lead by Example
This is one of the natural-born quality but it can also be learnt and demonstrated through experiences. As per the well-known leadership scholar, Bernard Bass, “The leader must be able to know what followers want, when they want it, and what prevents them from getting what they want.”
4. Learn from the traits of other Leaders
One can become a leader by doing what other excellent leaders have done in the past. You can always combine your personal strengths with the strengths of other successful leaders to influence your followers and your team to outclass your competitors, shining out with a whole new set of leadership skills.
5. Find a Common Goal
The most wonderful thing about leadership is that you can practice the skills of influencing and persuading others toward a Common Goal. You can demonstrate excellent teamwork by establishing your values and goals, planning your activities, and then executing with full energy. In the process, you can improve yourself by continually evaluating your performance against your standards.
6. Leaders are Readers and a life-long Learner
Successful Leaders have a great level of interest in leader development. Self-motivated Leaders are avid readers and focus on continuous knowledge building and skill development.
True leaders ensure they continue to develop their leadership skills throughout their life, through learning and development materials and activities.
