Answered! Is leadership native or learned or both? Think about someone you have worked with and admire as a leader. Which…

Leadership is about personality, attitudes, emotions, behavior, abilities and competencies. The important qualities of a leader are communication, taking responsibility, ability to motivate, emotional intelligence, vision, open-mindedness, positivity, confidence and persistence.

Leadership is a function of inherent and environmental factors

Some have the flair for leadership. But even then they must be motivated enough to become a leader. There may be a triggering event or an ingrained motivation to lead people.

Not all leaders have all the qualities of a leader. Some are learned somewhere along the way.

Situations and scale also determine a leader. Even a father or a mother is leader depending on the situation.

Expertise and passion in a domain. For e.g. Some can be leaders in some topics or domains e.g politics, whereas in other domains they may be just followers

Think about someone you have worked with and admire as a leader. Which characteristics would you learn from and develop and which are native or are such that you can’t learn them.

I have a friend who is a natural leader. He loves to lead friends in all activities. He took responsibilities for activities like sports, traveling etc. He took participations in other’s problems, was empathetic enough to listen to others and respond in a very positive way. Even in difficult situations, he looks at the positive sides. Even my other friends used to speak about his leadership characters. He had the statesmanship and never let anyone behind. He has risen for the causes of others and has also been at the receiving end of criticisms.

I have learned many qualities from him. I still put myself in his shoes when facing a problem. I have particularly learned the habit of being positive during critical situations and considering every situation as an experience rather than as a problem.

I guess it is difficult for me to enjoy life when I have to make some sacrifices for attaining some wishes whereas my friend would embrace such sacrifices. Also, his level of adaptability to people and situations are very natural and inherent whereas I find it difficult to have that kind of flexibility. I may be likely to improve such things but it would still be very difficult for me to reach his level of competence.