Are leaders born or made?

The correct answer is both. 

Everyone is a leader! We lead everywhere in our lives – at home, at work, in our friendships, in our self-care, and so on. We are in various leadership roles and there is no escape from them.  We are leaders as soon as we get into a team. Leaders of ourselves.

These are the roles we are born into. 

If we talk more specifically about leadership positions, and exclude the few examples where leadership is achieved by simply being born into a particular family, in most cases leaders are made. 

It is possible to be born with natural traits that come in handy when it comes to leadership and give you a small head start. For example, we all have different physical features: some are taller, some shorter, some larger, some smaller, some more flexible, and so on. 

In addition to physical characteristics, we all have different intellectual abilities at birth. For example, eloquence: we’ve all come across children who, even at just a few years old, can be wittier and more articulate than others in adulthood. 

Meanwhile, we look with admiration at someone who is able to remain calm in the most difficult situations and solve problems with a cool head.

In addition, we all know a friend who is inexplicably charismatic and everyone likes them. 

All these qualities come in handy when it comes to leadership. 

Does reaching a managerial position make you a good leader?

Absolutely not. You may have some naturally given advantage, but all it takes is a bad character trait and you’ve nullified that advantage. 

The good news is that all these traits can be trained. In the same way that it is possible to train your physical attributes, it is also possible to develop leadership qualities. 

By reading, writing and practicing speaking, we can become more articulate.

It is also possible to practice problem solving using a variety of methods.

By working on our postures, our speech patterns and the loudness of our voice, we can also, to some extent, increase our charisma. 

Unfortunately, as with physical attributes, there is a limit to how much we can improve. A person of average physical ability will not become a top athlete, just as a person of average intellectual ability will not become Albert Einstein. 

Can’t everyone be a good leader?

The statement: ‘No matter how much I develop myself, if I am not gifted by nature with certain character traits, I will never be a great leader’ is fortunately not true. There is always a chance.

A great leader is honest with themselves, knows their weaknesses and strengths, and uses their team to balance their weaknesses.

We can never refer to the leader as only an individual. A leader always needs a team around them. A leader is only successful when the team is successful. It is not possible for the leader to be successful but the team to fail.

The same is true for relationships outside of work. If you think you’re a very good partner, but the person you’re with is unhappy, you’re doing something wrong. The main goal you both share (a happy relationship) is unfulfilled. The bottom line is that neither you nor the partner is successful.

The team comes first, and in fact it should be that if the team wins, the team takes the podium and the leader takes a back seat, and if the team fails, the leader steps up and takes ownership. It may sound funny or illogical, but that’s probably the kind of leader and the kind of team each of us would like to have. Unfortunately, it is often the other way round.

Who can never be a good leader?

None of us is perfect. We have weaknesses, and to identify them we need to suppress our ego and be humble, and let the team counterbalance those weaknesses.

So in reality, there is only one kind of person who will never make a good leader – those who have a big ego and lack humility. They never see their own weaknesses and therefore never develop.

How do you improve as a leader?

To start with, you should answer the question: do I want to become a leader?

Do I want to become a leader because I want to live up to social norms, or do I really want to do so in my heart? Not all people need to become leaders and not all people want to. Some people instead want to be very good specialists.

If you are determined to become a good leader then here’s some help:

• Find yourself a mentor – if it’s a choice between a good mentor and a bad mentor, choose a good one.
• Read and learn as much as you can – books, other people’s stories, blogs, podcasts, etc.
• Analyze your own behavior – a good leader is never ‘done’. Be willing to see room for improvement and admit your mistakes.
• Tame your EGO – if your mirror image is starting to look too good or you think you’re the smartest person in the room, you’ve definitely got too big an ego. It’s also a sign of a big ego if the feedback you receive hurts. Listen to your team’s feedback, admit your mistakes, fix and prevent them.
• Get out of your comfort zone as much as possible – that’s where progress happens.
• Make mistakes and learn from them – even if you fall flat on your face, get up and move forward smarter. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get back up. 

Ultimately, it is possible for anyone to become a good leader. It takes deep self-belief and continuous development. Becoming a good leader is not easy but it is well worth the effort.

The Leadership Forum was conducted by Hardi Hansalu.