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Manoj G
India
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Are Leaders Born or Made?
Hello everybody, what is your opinion: is leadership a god-given gift which comes naturally with birth, or can it be gathered and learned after some age?
In other words, is leadership development a matter of Nature or Nurture?
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Patrick Patrong, USA
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Leaders are NOT Born To say that Leaders are born, would also say that criminals are also born. Leadership like most attributes are learned behavior. True, some have these learning experiences earlier in life and as a result have more practice. Yet, other have been practicing leadership skills, without a formal definition of leadership.
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Mellacheruvu Adi Saasthry
Director, India
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Leaders CAN be made... Leaders can certainly be made and one should possess the following things to become a leader:
- Charisma,
- Consideration
- Intellectual Stimulation
- Courage
- Dependability
- Flexibility
- Integrity
- Judgement
- Respect for others
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Jay Watson, USA
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Leaders: born or made? The Confidence to Stand Up A leader is born out of the circumstances surrounding the problem. You can train and groom anyone for anything. If they're unwilling to stand up and take the consequences of their actions however, they won't lead. Leaders are usually those who have the best skill set fit for the given issue that feel the most confident to lead (relatively speaking about those around them). It doesn't matter how they got the confidence to do so, it only matters that they can demonstrate to others that they do.
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Sandeep Pathak, UAE
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Leadership is mostly born, but can be refined I strongly believe that leadership is sure a born gift. One may attempt to develop it, but a natural leader is the only effective leader. I would hesitate to recommend learning leadership as a course, one may only refine the skills.
During our class projects, sometimes the project leaders were picked up at random. In all such teams where the so called team leaders were not the "leaders", it ended up with a poor output. You can not make somebody to lead. To lead requires certain inbuilt characteristics. How come one may learn to sacrifice? How come one may learn to be visionary? It is not possible.
Have you ever noticed when children play the game of teacher and students, why only one or two prefer to become the teacher, not all? There lies the answer. To lead is a passion, and it is better if it is by heart and natural.
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Daryl Cowie, Canada
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Anyone can Lead if they have the PASSION Absolutely anyone can learn to lead... if they really want to. I think 2 things can make a leader out of anyone, and you can easily find examples of unlikely heros and leaders all around:
- First you need to really care about the cause you are leading (everyone is passionate about something - but you need to find it).
- Second there are some skills you need to learn, and don't ever let anyone tell you you cannot learn them and learn them well.
Don't get stuck on one idea of what a great leader is. There are many leadership styles, including also charismatic motivating leaders, commanding directing leaders, empathetic collaberative leaders and analytical leaders who are followed because of their undeniable proof of results.
Randomly chosen leaders for school and work projects fail, because they lack passion about the project, not because they are missing the leadership gene.
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Paul Robbins, England
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Leadership: some are more talented than others... Like physical skills cognitive skills can be developed to make individuals successful in life including leadership. However some individuals are born with more talent than others. There there will be variance in leadership ability which is a mixture of talent and developed skills. A good read is Malcolm Gladwell's "The Outliers" and "Blink" in this aspect. Regards
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Sherry Lambrecht, USA
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Leaders are made and born Good leaders normally have to have a leadership quality or instinct. The rest is old fashion hard knocks, learning from your mistakes, and what is done with that information.
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Fakhra Naeem
Professor, India
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Leadership is not a Born Gift Leadership is not a born gift it is more based on the traits, experience, learning and the perception. Leadership is an art or a skill to get the things done accurately and timely.
Leadership is a style of influencing others and convince them to follow you. It is basically more of an individual approach that means how a person perceives the things and use his/her skills.
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M.Ganapathy
Manager, Sri Lanka
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Leaders Leaders are by birth (political), but good leaders are by good practice (to lead others towards good). Don't get confused.
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Gerard Gielkens, Netherlands
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True leaders have the best of both worlds True leadership is a golden combination of natural skills by birth and a life-long training of these competencies.
Everyone has his own competencies by birth which are nursed and developed in the first period of childhood. That explains why people without these natural competences don't develop true leadership even if they follow all courses on leadership, and some people are great leaders without any training.
Therefore, in my opinion true leadership is a combination of natural competences regarding cognition and intuition combined with a continuous process of learning by experience and reflection.
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Lem Usita, United States
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Define Leadership I guess it all depends on how you define leadership. I think it is possible for either. I would say that someone who is born a leader and is able to develop their leadership skills is in a good spot, but depending on how you define leadership - everyone can lead and is a leader.
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Hafeez Anwar Qureshi
Business Consultant, Pakistan
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Leaders Can Be Created in Suitable Situations I was a simple person in the society, and didn't know about leaders & leadership. My teachers gave me an opportunity and now I am leader and love to lead with my knowledge, experience, skills and qualities.
I can now create leaders within 4-6 months. Sometimes you can find leaders that were born, but mostly they were provided suitable situations to become a leader.
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Pam Boney, USA
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From Transformational Leadership to Transcendent Leadership My current belief is that there are qualities of leadership that can be innate, such as natural charisma and a strong internal locus of control. Unbridled this can lead to Transformational Leadership which can certainly achieve exponential results. The problem with it is that if character and self-transcendence are not developed, then the leader may lead large populations astray with a very negative consequence. (ie Maddoff).
So, for this reason, I define exemplary leadership as something that is developed through character and will and the outcomes of which are positive. This MUST be developed and can be done by anyone who steps up to the plate to lead. I am proposing a new leadership formula called Transcendent Leadership including balance in the Four Pillars of Leadership: Self, Others, Organization and Community which must be balanced for positive outcomes.
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Rebecca Roe
United States
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Leadership is Developed and Tested through Time I think leadership qualities are tested through time. It takes experimentation with ideas and the willingness to follow through and follow up, then keep up with the maintenance with ongoing evolutiona...
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Bomison Hamidu, Ghana
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Leaders, Born (20) and Made (80) I believe there is no definite or pinpoint answer. It is true that Leadership is a learning process and that it is learnt and developed. It is also true that good leaders must also demonstrate a level...
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M.S.Randawa, Malaysia
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Leaders are Shaped by Persistence Leaders are NOT BORN, its the persistence and perseverance over time that modulates and shapes them....
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Ahmed Ali
Director, Saudi Arabia
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Born Leaders are Different from Made Leaders Born Leaders are different than Made Leaders in the sense that they leave remarkable history behind them.
Read about all great world leaders, good or bad, they were leaders from the onset of their l...
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Wiegmans
Business Consultant, Netherlands
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Leadership based on Dominance My answer on this question is both biological as psychological. One of the most prominent characteristics of leaders is their dominance.
For better or for worse, every leader has the believe he/she ...
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Leyla Is
Management Consultant, Sweden
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Leadership, Born or Created I´m a student and we´ve been overwhelmed with leadership theories, how to be the best leader and make change... But I think people should focus on how good leaders have been in the past, and learn fro...
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Frederick Price
Philippines
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Can Leadership Be Generated or is it a Born Gift The textbooks say leadership comes from heredity and environment. I do not agree. It is an inborn trait. If a leader is not so born, then the environment aspect will not really matter. Can I back this...
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Daniel Mitchell, Singapore
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The Question - are Leaders Born or Made? I think there are personality and even physical traits (eg. Height) that seem to bestow leader-like qualities on some. Some people have all the "stuff" of leadership, but through their actions they lo...
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achintya sarkar, India
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Top Leadership is Inborn If we talk about leadership quality, some part of it can be inculcated some are inborn. But one cannot become a Level-5 Leader without inborn traits....
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Frederick Price
Philippines
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Leadership I completely agree with you. You either have it, or you don't. And if you don't have it, no amount of study or work will give it to you....
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Rebecca Roe
United States
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Leadership Quality Partly Inborn: Situations make you a Leader Some people like to lead, others like to follow. Sometimes leaders emerge from followers based on the mere fact of not being able to survive the outcomes of the present direction. It's a matter of som...
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Frederick Price
Philippines
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Leadership I would say that some are born to lead, but most to follow. If a leader arises up out of the rabble, then that person was already a leader to begin with. A follower will simply sit there with crowd wh...
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Leyla Is
Management Consultant, Sweden
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Fear of Showing Leadership Finally we all agree about the biological skills which are very important for a real and good leader, but there is a good point that even if you have education, inborn skills and you are a leader toda...
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Frederick Price
Philippines
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Effect Culture on Leadership I think your people do have the skills. But the culture gets in the way. Leadership is normally distributed, so some in your country should have it. But perhaps they choose not to use it. In my opinio...
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Casimir Vital
Manager, United States
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Leadership is Learned Leadership is learned. Anyone can do it but the issue is whether the person will act upon the training and knowledge when the time comes. There is no genetic marker for leadership it is situation and ...
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Rebecca Roe
United States
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Can Leadership Be Born or Generated After Some Age? Leaders are everywhere within all of us.
If the fear of leading overrides the willingness to take on the responsibilities then we are followers. If leadership serves you well, then you lead, if it d...
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Rebecca Roe
United States
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Why do Some Want to Lead??? I think there has to be an underlying sense of impatience demonstrated by leaders. Impatience at seeing nothing substantive happening.
As a child, no one is making decisions about what game to play,...
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Rebecca Roe
United States
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Managers versus Leaders Effective managers will spot the leaders in their midst. That lightens their load. If they engage the leaders, communicate the vision and mission regarding short and long term goals, then the leaders ...
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Germaine Roanne Baquilod
Manager, Philippines
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Leadership is a Skill Leadership is a skill. You may be thrown into a situation which empowers you to lead. But your ability to influence and carry out plans into successful action by others is learned and mastered over ti...
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M Y Zainudeen
Management Consultant, Sri Lanka
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Leadership Situations There are a large number of characteristics (as someone has mentioned earlier) which bases one's leadership talents and qualities, however all these characteristics may not be applicable in each and e...
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TAPIWA JUMOH
Student (University), Zimbabwe
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Leadership by Birth? Leaders are not born even if we all exist because of the process: 'birth.'
Leadership requires to engage with, motivate, persuade people to buy into a vision, objective or goal. The individual who ca...
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Tom Wilson
HR Consultant, United States
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Leadership Can Be Taught and Learned Both.
However, it is absolute doctrine of the US Army that leadership can be taught and learned. ROTC drill is called "Leadership Laboratory".
The US Army Ranger School is based on the power of rol...
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David Wilson
Manager, Canada
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Leaders and Learning @Tom Wilson, I agree that leaders can be taught and can learn. When I went to through the ROTP (in Canada) program, 15 to 25% of the leaders that started the program graduated (depending on where they...
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Andrew Blaine
Business Consultant, South Africa
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Can Untalented Leaders Still be Taught Leadership? I wonder if leaders can be taught ab initio. In every leadership programme there is an element of selection, in which those without the prerequisite attributes are removed from the programme. To me th...
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Tom Wilson
HR Consultant, United States
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Leaders and Learning @David Wilson: Thank you for your response. My Ranger class started with 300 odd candidates, 120 finished and 85 got tabs, so the percentages are about the same as ROTP. How many became great leaders...
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Tom Wilson
HR Consultant, United States
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On the Ideology of Leadership @Mellacheruvu Adi Saasthry : This list is what I consider the ideology of Leadership, which is to say, that these qualities needs be present before a leader can emerge, as opposed to metrics that can ...
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abdulghaniyu salako, Nigeria
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Few are Born, Others are Made Few individuals are born leaders, but they perform exceptionally well. For example, Jesus and Mohammed.
Most others are made, depending on circumstances. For example, Mandela, Ghandi, Garvay, Martin ...
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haguma brian
Student (University), Uganda
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Leaders: Born or Made? I strongly suggest that leaders are made. Because if they were born, what would be the point of the rest of us studying leadership or management?
Editor: exactly, and what would be the use for th...
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VENKATESH
Manager, India
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Leaders can be Made People are born with some traits of Emotion and Intelligence. Leadership requires these traits in different proportions.
Along with these 2, one also requires for leadership: Attitude, Communication ...
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Satya Nistala
India
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Natural versus Genetically Modified Made leaders are like genetically modified products. All color but no taste. Natural leaders are like organic fruits.
They are not only hygienic, smell good but are tasty too.
What is natural must b...
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Vipul Nahar
India
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Think Beyond 'Are Leaders Born or Made' Despite of our failure in deriving consensus on this topic every time we discuss, it is still the most wanted leg piece of every discussion related to leadership. At times, I don't understand what we ...
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Andrew Blaine
Business Consultant, South Africa
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Beyond 'Born or Made' @Vipul Nahar: As Mark Boucher and other South African cricketers have repeatedly stated - "Proficiency is 10% talent and 90% hard work". This applies to leadership as well....
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Rebecca Roe
United States
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Replying to These Questions is Better Than 'Candy Crush' @Vipul Nahar: It may not matter anymore than what came first? The chicken or the egg? We all continue to wonder!...
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Vipul Nahar
India
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Beyond Born or Made Leaders @Andrew Blaine: Agreed and this is what I meant I guess. We need a mix of both innate skills and practicing....
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Feraidoon Bakhtiari
CxO / Board, Iran
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Great Leaders are like Diamonds Leaders have diamond quality. They flourish in circumstances of heat and pressure. Heat zeal and passion of making changes in behaviour and mindset along with pressure of environment, resources, rules...
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Thabo Johnson, South Africa
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Leaders Formal and Informal Training Learned friends, my view is based on traditional leadership where the baton is passed on from one to another.
Leadership qualities are a pre-natal and post-natal disposition of an individual. This di...
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Andrew Blaine
Business Consultant, South Africa
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Hereditary Leadership @Thabo Johnson: There are simply too many examples that say your opinion does not mesh with reality. Heredity may offer advantages to some that others will not get, but that does not mean that good l...
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Thabo Johnson, South Africa
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Hereditary Leadership Reality in a South African context cannot overlook that the regional stock of great leaders can be traced back to the times of King Shaka, the forefathers of the Mandela Clan, the Ackermans, the Oppen...
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Gopalakrishna Bhat
Project Manager, India
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Leaders-Born or Made or Hereditory Etc I think, this discussion can go on forever without converging to any logical conclusion.
Instead of spending time talking theories, can we start sharing leadership case studies (both successes and fa...
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Feraidoon Bakhtiari
CxO / Board, Iran
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The Context of the Leadership Matters I do not know where this kind of discussion take us? Some believe leaders are born and some show evidences that leaders are made. And as a conclusion everybody agrees that both sides are right.
What ...
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Thomas Solomon
Student (University), Nigeria
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How to Assess Suitability of a 'Born' Leader? @Sandeep Pathak: I agree with you, but what are the things or features one gets to look out for that will tell when a person is a leader by birth?...
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Satya Nistala
India
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Leaders are Born, Not Made @Haguma brian: The only use of networking and learning about leadership and management is to get a job or to acquire a higher position. It is not about making leaders who would serve the interest of h...
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Deric Crosby, United States
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You Lead Like You are Lead In my opinion, with most behavioral characteristics or skills it is learned. Most leaders are born out of their experiences and observations they have as they move through life.
In many cases they be...
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Kurai Chitima
Business Consultant, South Africa
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Are Leaders Born or Made? I was told the story of a man who visited a far country where people were still living quite primitive. He saw an old man and asked him the question: "Are leaders in this place born or made?" The old ...
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Riek Yak Guandong
Student (University), South Sudan
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Leaders are Born; not Made Born leaders are effective, charismatic and formulators.
Leaders by learning are often only implementers....
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Michael D. Moore
Entrepreneur, United States
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Leaders Born not Made I have read the many valuable responses here and this is a subject dear to my heart.
Respectfully, this is not an easy either/or answer. After 40+ years in executive management, I submit that strong ...
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Gregory Johnson
Coach, United States
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Cornucopia of Leadership There are a number of outstanding responses to the query of leaders either born or made in this thread.
If one were to define Leadership versus Leader, one would understand why such an interesting ar...
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