Leaders are to be Born not to be Made

Question: Discuss the view that some leaders are born to be great (Trait Theory) whilst others become leaders by developing their leadership skills? Answer: Leaders are to be born not to be made There have been numerous ideologies and concepts behind what it takes to be the leaders in the modern world. There are several theories which can be applied in the leadership; one of them is trait theory of leadership. As noted by Kessler (2013), leadership theory is based on the fact that, leaders are born and not be made. Leaders has certain qualities by birth which differentiate them form the others. This explains that leaders are birth has personality traits and managerial traits which separate them from the other or the non-leaders. Some of the major basic traits that the leader poses are height, looks, intelligent, self confidence, enthusiastic and friendliness (www.mc.edu, 2010). As per the trait theory, those individual poses such kind of the qualities and are very much influence others are to be known as the leaders. From this point view its can been seen that, it is very much suggest that, leaders are different from the average looking men/women (Northouse, 2004). For instance , Oprah Winfry , Queen Victoria and Steve Jobs etc. these people have ability to influence others to work as per the their goals. Figure 1: Trait theory of leadership (Source: Littlejohn and Foss, 2009, pp-124) However, on the other hand, discussed by Northouse (2004), most of the modern authors criticize the trait theory of leadership. As the changing tomes leads are not born leaders are made in the current contemporary world. Some of the examples who do not have certain traits are one of the greatest leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, bill gates and Walt Disney. Trait theory also fails to explain the situation in which the leaders are needed to be function (www.personal.psu.edu, 2011). Reference list Books Kessler, E. (2013). Encyclopedia of management theory. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE. Littlejohn, S. and Foss, K. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. Northouse, P. (2004). Leadership. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. Websites www.mc.edu, (2010). Leadership Traits And Behaviors. [online] Available at: https://www.mc.edu/rotc/files/5813/1471/7331/MSL_201_L10a_Leadership_Traits__Behaviors.pdf [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]. www.personal.psu.edu, (2011). Trait and behavioral theories of leadership: an integration and meta-analytic test of their relative validity. [online] Available at: https://www.personal.psu.edu/seh25/DeRueNahrgangWellmanHumphrey2011.pdf [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015].