Assignment # 1

Prepared by Talmeez Hussain Roll No. 10047

Instructor: Course: Date:

Miss Aiza Entrepreneurship & Leadership 22nd October 2013

Lahore Garrison University, Lahore

Is Leadership can be developed\learnt or by Birth? Leadership
Definition:
Leadership can be defined by different authors in the following ways as given
below:

 

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done
because he wants to do it."(Dwight D. Eisenhower). "Leadership is the wise use of
power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain
it."(Warren Bennis).

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a

common goal. Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of
the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of
personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction. In
other words leadership directly depends on leader character. So, we also have to
look that leaders are born by birth or develop. In this new arisen question we have
different views about leaders that leaders are born by birth or develop. So we look
at the following views about leaders:

Leaders are Born

Leaders really are born and not made, scientists say after finding a gene that
influences whether someone is likely to rule or be ruled. After analyzing DNA
samples from 4,000 people, the team from University College London discovered that
those with the gene were up to 25 % more likely to have a supervisory role at work.
There is a Personality Profile that exists that is a Natural Born Leader. There are
5 specific Personality Traits that define a Natural Born Leader. A Natural born
leader will test extremely high in areas of Social ability, Self Confidence,
Assertiveness, and Boldness.  Social ability: Good natured Extroverted, outgoing,
friendly, gregarious, neighbourly, congenial. Warm hearted individuals who enjoy
interacting and participating with others. They greet strangers openly, are quick
to form friendships, and enjoy careers dealing with people rather than things. They
are rarely content in solitary work. Self Confidence: Determines Success Self-
assured, certain, secure, brave, fulfilled, poised, selfreliant. Believe they have
the knowledge and ability to be successful at whatever they attempt. Cope
successfully with challenges and are not easily discouraged. Handle unexpected
situations well, make decisions with assurance, and are quick to express ideas and
opinions. Assertiveness: Aggressive, persuasive, influential, headstrong,
opinionated, possibly argumentative and hostile. Believe that being assertive and
taking the offensive is essential to attaining success. They make things happen,
rather than waiting for them to happen, and are willing to be forceful in order to
get a job done. May be authoritarian. Boldness: Adventurous, daring, carefree,
brave, courageous, audacious, fearless. Uninhibited individuals who are willing to
try new and different experiences. They can function normally


even in unfamiliar environments, and are quick to accept challenges and willing to
take risks to accomplish their objectives. May be pushy and ignore warning signs.

Leaders are Develop

Leaders are developed. Leadership is nothing more than a collection of skills, that
when employed, produce results.


Leaders create the motivational environment for their followers that cause them to
want to achieve.  They are able to easily identify the needs of their followers
and direct them on the pathway to success.  Leaders can skillfully strike the
balance between attending to the needs of their followers while accomplishing the
tasks required of them. Leaders can learn leadership skills in a variety of ways
(training, self-study, observing other leaders) but unless these skills are
practiced in realistic and meaningful experiences they are forgotten.

Leaders are Born and Develop

Great leaders are not born nor made. Great leaders are a product of life
experiences and choice. Every individual possesses the ability to choose the path
to follow and this defines the individual. There is no one perfect path to follow
or correct choice to make as several paths lead to the top and bottom. The
opportunities presented differ from one person to another based on several factors
such as social class, education and prior decisions. No one learns and comes into
this world when he is born. Becoming a leader in life depends upon the risks and
responsibilities taken and performed. It is all about willingness to take chances.
It does not matter if you take a wrong or a right decision. Right decision provides
you with zeal to move on. But, wrong decision gives you a chance to improve upon on
it and keep yourself and your followers motivated at all times.

Conclusion
By seeing above views about leaders we came to know that leadership can be by birth
and also be developed\learnt. Leadership is a skill and like any other skill can be
acquired over a period of time by practicing it. Some people are talented and are
born with good leadership qualities. But like any other 'skill', one has to hone it
over a period of periods and has to remain dynamic. Not all of the leaders are born
with the same, it is through your upbringing and training of your mind,
perseverance, ability & aptitude to learn can only make a good leader. There are
certain traits but as a Leadership has Application dimension, hence, simply knowing
the traits will not make a good leader. Some people are born with leadership genes
as they say, but it can’t sustain them in the long term. A person has to adjust to
the situation in which he has been put and accordingly develop skills and enhance
knowledge. It is imperative for a person to learn how to handle different issues
and agendas in the most satisfying way. That makes a person a leader in the course
of time. Leadership is a set of skills that can be learned by practice over time.
This is true of literally any skill. However, you need some in-born talent or “pre-
determination” to master the skill.