A CEO recently asked me if I thought that great leaders were born or could be developed through training and experience.This is a pretty loaded question to someone involved in Leadership Development and Training!
This is interesting though, because I’ve worked for some incredibly inspirational leaders and others who were completely out of their depth. Obviously personality plays a part, so what parallels can we draw from the nature versus nurture debate, which is one of the oldest issues in psychology.
The debate has raged for centuries on the relative importance of genetic inheritance and environmental factors on human development.
This is interesting though, because I’ve worked for some incredibly inspirational leaders and others who were completely out of their depth. Obviously personality plays a part, so what parallels can we draw from the nature versus nurture debate, which is one of the oldest issues in psychology.
The debate has raged for centuries on the relative importance of genetic inheritance and environmental factors on human development.
Great thinkers like Plato and Descartes suggested that certain things are inborn, or they occur naturally regardless of environmental influences. Others like John Locke believed in what is known as “Tabula rasa” which is a Latin term that roughly into ‘blank slate’ and it believes that personality and social development comes from experience and perception.
Both schools of thought were partly right because today we believe that both have an influence. There are many examples of people who come from poor, disadvantaged backgrounds and still achieve great things.
What we do know is that great leaders create the right lens through which to view the world. They see things differently and this allows them to motivate others to see the same thing. They help the team see the ultimate goal and then challenge their brightest people to build strategies to get there.
There are many examples from famous explorers who ventured where no-one else had been to inventors and businesspeople who changed the world and created entire industries. But they didn’t do it alone. They had collaborators, supporters and stakeholders who also believed in their vision of what was possible.
So my answer to the CEO was that whilst I do believe that good leaders are born, truly great leaders study and emulate the best. She shared my view but that's just our opinion, what do you think?
What we do know is that great leaders create the right lens through which to view the world. They see things differently and this allows them to motivate others to see the same thing. They help the team see the ultimate goal and then challenge their brightest people to build strategies to get there.
There are many examples from famous explorers who ventured where no-one else had been to inventors and businesspeople who changed the world and created entire industries. But they didn’t do it alone. They had collaborators, supporters and stakeholders who also believed in their vision of what was possible.
So my answer to the CEO was that whilst I do believe that good leaders are born, truly great leaders study and emulate the best. She shared my view but that's just our opinion, what do you think?
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