Are leaders made or born?

You’ve probably wondered about this yourself. Personally, I really hate being asked that question, yet it happens quite often. It’s not because I don’t have an answer for it. I do.

And I will share it with you in a moment. The irritation is that this question is usually not being asked out of curiosity to know where leaders come from, rather it’s a subtle search for an excuse to justify why the interrogator isn’t a great leader.

If the answer is “leaders are born”, and you weren’t graced with leader DNA, then you have a great excuse. This hope allows many corporate LINOs (leader in name only) off the hook for not achieving great things as a leader. This hope — that leaders are born — is evident in their eye and words. When the debate moves towards the idea that leaders are made, they’ll adamantly argue that leaders are born, attempting to validate their subconscious excuse.

Because that’s the wrong premise it leads us to the answer for the question are leaders made or born. Leaders are made out of what they’re born with. But, the weight of that statement is the word “made”. No matter what you’re born with you have to be made into a leader.

Think of the best leaders, the ones you look up to. If you were to study their lives, you’d discover that no matter how much or little leader-like DNA they were born with, they were made into the leader they became. Without the made element, no one can become a successful leader.

So, rather than looking for a subconscious excuse wrapped in the premise that the only true leaders are the ones that are born, shift your attention to answering how are leaders made. The best way to go about this is to work with a coach who knows how to make leaders, and more specifically, a coach who has a success record with CEOs and other executives (if your ambition is success in the C-suite).

When I was a boy, we used to play whatever sport was in season: baseball, basketball or football (American style). After school we’d head out into the back yard and play for hours until it was dinner time. While this was really enjoyable, downright fun, it didn’t make me a better player.

At best I could mimic what my friends did as an attempt to get better, which isn’t much different than you attempting to copy what another leader does. The problem was just because my friends did something different, and maybe even better, on the sports field than I did, it didn’t mean it was the best way. Nor did it mean I was copying their way correctly.

To make it even worse, they were fellow players and not adept to teach me how to play better. They could only share what they did.

I laugh at this approach as I’m reminded of watching average golfers give fellow players pointers on the golf course. Why would you take tips from an average fellow player? If you want to get better, spend time with the golf pro.

That’s how I improved in baseball, basketball and football. While we did play for fun in the back yard, we also played under the tutelage of a coach. It was from him that we learned how to be better players, improved our skills, and pushed ourselves to excel. This is where we were made. It was his job to teach and train us to improve as athletes.

Just as in sports — where if you want to get better you work with a coach — successful leaders do the same. Do you? A great coach is like a teacher who makes you better than you would be otherwise.

To be made into a great leader, you need to work with somebody who’s experienced in doing this. It won’t just happen on its own — it never has and never will.

The question that’s left for you to answer is, “What are you doing to do to be made into the leader you want to be?”

— The writer is a CEO coach and author of Leadership Dubai Style. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com