Introduction In this paper, the writer will discuss the concept of leadership development, whether a person is born or developed to be a leader, what role mentoring has on follower’s, and what being a leader and follower mean. The writer will relate personal experience as well as scholarly research to validate her perception of leadership development. The writer will provide enough information for the reader to have a good understanding of leadership development, mentoring followers, and what he or she believes is a leader and/or follower.
Is a Leader Born or Developed? One must be able to understand the definition of leadership before making the determination is a leader is born or developed. Leadership is defined as “the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals” (Bethel University, 2011, p.16). There are myths that tend to stand in the way of people fully understanding leadership development. One would say that good leadership is having common sense, or leaders are born rather than made or developed. Leaders have certain traits that make he or she be a good leader. One may assume that a person is born a leader because of one’s actions or attributes he or she maintains. A person can have traits and behaviors that point in the direction of leadership. However, those traits and behaviors do not necessarily mean that the leader was born that way nor developed that way. Leadership is can be acquired in different ways. The important
What is leadership? Are individuals destined to lead or are they mentored into it? Leadership can be taught and seen by hard work, mentoring and a specific mind set, but the great leaders are born with the leadership quality. Leadership is taken from hard work. If one individual sees another individual working hard than the other will try and help the fact and get the job done with more efficiency by he also trying his hardest. It has a conformity affect. If most people in the group work hard and keep their eyes on the prize than good things will happen. Leadership could have been taught by the worker that began the domino affect with the conformity of the group. He could have a very humble father that taught him that hard work pays bills. Therefore if he works to his abilities than the worker will receive riches. If a worker only half-asses it than he will not move up the chain of life. Some people have mind sets that make them successful. Herbert hoover, the 31st President of the United States was an orphan.( The Biography.com website.) This tells us that no one's life is invaluable, and that no matter what environment a person comes
Today’s potential leaders who have enhanced there skill with education in leadership, believe in the elements that they 've learned. The rational, technical reducible in today 's marketplace could be ill-equipped without the proper motivation and mentoring because motivation of followers isn 't created out of thin air. It’s accomplished by aligning individuals and members who take pride in their contributions and have an understanding of shared goals and values.
The people in key positions are essential to the things that makes the world go around, but relationships influence how leaders manage, mentor, and move organizations forward. There is a need in the world today for people responsible for others and resources in marketplace industries to seek the wisdom of seasoned leaders in all facets of organizational leadership. Service in the United States military, government, commercial marketplace, Church ministry, education, and parenthood at various leadership levels establishes the necessity for the continuous need for all leaders to have a mentor. Leaders arrive from a multitude of varied paths, shapes, and forms. The development and background of these people are routine questions often asked.
Leadership is a personal skill that has to be developed and improved upon daily, just like an athlete works on his craft. We all come from different walks of life and that is often a factor in the way our leadership styles are shaped. Our differences of race, gender, religion, home environment, and lifestyle all have an effect on the way we are led growing up. It is a skill that is mastered over time, while never being perfected. Like anything else in life, leadership skills are often developed from who we are, where we come from and the people in our life who have taught us their knowledge.
Leadership is multidimensional. There is no straightforward way to describe what a leader is or explain who makes a great leader. The description will be shaped by the purpose of the work being done and the followers one achieves. Dye (2010) states that leadership is a “living phenomenon” (p. 14) and supports the need to provide personalization to the leadership style. There is much discussion on the development of a leader. Some believe that you are a natural born leader who fine-tunes those skills through “persistence and perseverance of failures and successes” (Blanken, 2013, para. 5). Others, like Blanken (2013), feel that exposures early in life begin the development of leadership traits, and “education, jobs, and life experiences then shape the leader’s philosophy and psychology” (para. 7). A dominant style might be apparent in a leader; however, the adaptability in leadership approaches allows the leader to be focused on
Leadership and mentoring has generally been mistaken to be the same thing however during the course of this assignment I aim to prove otherwise that although leaders and mentors may share some similar traits they have different definitions and perform different functions.
There are numerous theories about leadership. Some of the theories suggest that leaders are born while others suggest that leaders are made through training.
So if a leader needs a combination of characteristics that makes them successful is a leader born or made? The answer is both. Some people already possess the traits that they need to be leaders and are often leaders from an early age. Some people observe and eventually become leaders. Leadership can be taught. Over the years many theories about leadership have been developed. These theories include but are not limited to trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and functional theories.
Leaders aren 't born; their made. The process of leadership is long, complicated and has made elements. Respect, dignity, discipline, people skills, vision, emotional strength, opportunity, preparedness and experience are just some of the intangible elements which come into play when talking leadership.
Leadership is something that can be taught (Northouse, 2015. There are some valuable theories, which will be discussed later in this paper, how a leader can develop into having a strong influence in any daily aspect of their lives. Also later in this paper it will be discussed the various styles of leaders that can affect the behaviors of the actions of each leader. Each leader can learn these attributes or some of them just have the natural capability of being a leader.
As defined by Katzenbach (1995), change leadership is “the process whereby individuals who lead initiatives that influence dozens to hundreds of others to perform differently—and better—by applying multiple leadership and change approaches.” Leadership alone is defined as setting a direction and developing the strategies necessary to move in that direction – that is, creating and achieving a vision – leadership is thus a process to do with change (Kotter 1999). Change leadership is critically important to the continuing success of organizations everywhere. Tennant Company understands and invests in change leadership by employing a Sr. Organization Development Manager named Annelise Larson, M.B.A. whose efforts includes setting direction, developing strategies, and leading initiatives through organizational change efforts. An interview was conducted with Annelise Larson to discuss and learn about her change leadership abilities. For the purposes of this paper, the interview questions will be shared, a summary will be provided, and five recommendations are made for Annelise Larson as a change leader.
Remember that kid in middle school who always led the crew, just exuded charisma and got everyone to follow them? Do you ever remember thinking- how, how did they do that? Of course this situation doesn’t apply to all aspects of life but it does serve as an example to age old question. Are leaders born or made? This question may sound vague at first but when I say are leaders born or made I mean did that kid in your middle school have something you didn’t in your genetics and do those genes determine who leads.
In modern day business, leadership has become an issue that is given far more attention and investment than ever before. Leadership involves establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realise that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholder. This essay will discuss whether leaders are born not made, with varies of theories being compared and contrasted and the strengths and limitations of leaders itself. Further this essay will analyse the future aspects of theories which would establish whether a leader was born with leadership qualities or made into a successful leader.
Chapter sixteen discusses various leadership theories which can implemented by leaders to achieve success. The choice of leadership theory differs from leader to leader as they possess different vision and way of managing. A theory isn 't always perfect in itself, it is the endless effort of the leaders which makes the theory a perfect one. Two approaches of leadership that I prefer are Situational Leadership Theory and Servant Leadership Theory. Among many theories I prefer these two because I tend to practice those principles most of the time and I assume these are theories that I truly tend to continue in a long run.
LEADERS ARE BORN NOT MADE There have been an age long debate, and humans since beginning of time, have tried to come up with an answer to this question – Are Leaders born or are they made?. This question has generated an age long debate, which in turn has resulted in various school of thoughts, some believe that leaders are born, while others think otherwise. My contribution to this lifelong debate will serve as a pointer to my position on this issue. I strongly believe that leaders are born and not made. Who is a Leader? - “A leader is a person who guides others toward a common goal, showing the way by example, and creating an environment in which other team members feel actively involved in the entire process. A leader is not the boss of