Born to Lead

Are leaders born or made?

Since I was a child I always seemed to hold leadership roles whether it was as a captain of an athletic team or acting as the lead with a school project.  Participating in athletics requires technical skills and leading a school project requires having a vision, delegating tasks and planning.  So in a sense both of these circumstances are more management related rather than leadership oriented. 

Once I entered the workforce after university I knew that I wanted to lead in some type of capacity.  So being a leader in my organization and entrepreneur today is not a surprise to me.  Although I feel I was meant to lead from a young age my work experience and education in this area has helped significantly.  I now have the capacity to lead on a much higher level and the opportunity to achieve meaningful outcomes.  So I believe I had the foundations to potentially become a great leader however the experiences and knowledge I gained along the way determined the quality to which I can lead.  If it wasn’t for the experience and knowledge would I be comfortable leading and believing I can do more?

 The answer is no, so to answer the question of “Are leaders born or made?” I believe we are born or adopt at a very young age the necessary leadership traits such as intelligence, drive, motivation, honesty, integrity and self-confidence but will seek out what we have to in order to become great leaders within our respective organizations.   

Do you believe leaders are born or adopt the necessary leadership traits at a young age?