Introduction
Leadership is one of the most critical elements in the existence of organisations and societies. Lussier and Achua (2010) are of the view that the success of organisations and the overall society is determined by leadership behaviour. Organisations are progressively considering leadership as a fundamental strategic management aspect. For example, in their staffing process, firms are selecting job candidates characterised by leadership skills and potential. The significance of leadership in attaining sustainable development especially within organisations has increased the rate at which firms are investing in leadership training programs. Leadership should not only be confined to employees with organisational authority such as managers. On the contrary, it is an aspect that should be possessed by all employees.
Organisations in the UAE are amongst the firms that have been appreciating the importance of leadership in the last decade. The leadership-training programs aim at creating future leaders, hence transforming the organisation’s performance. Despite the significance of leadership in attaining long-term organisational excellence, there has been extensive debate as to whether leaders are born or made. Some scholars and management practitioners are of the view that leaders are made through nurturing. Conversely, others are of the view that leaders are naturally born. Thus, leadership is an innate phenomenon and education can only be used to refine it. This research paper is based on the assumption that leaders are born and not made. The paper will help organisations design leadership programs that will improve the selection of job candidates. This goal will be achieved by assisting decision-makers to observe and understand who could be a real leader.
Literature review
Leaders are born
The leadership role presents a challenge in many organisations and society in general. One of the major sources of challenge entails the dynamic nature of the contemporary business environment and society. Firms encounter new issues daily that should be resolved effectively. The issues require the adoption of unique resolutions. Therefore, in the course of constituting their human capital base, firms must undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the job candidates’ characteristics to understand their traits (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).
Research on leadership has been dominated by charismatic and transformational leadership theories over the past few years. According to Lussier and Achua (2010), the two theories presuppose that leadership in the contemporary environment is only effective if it based on inspirational and emotional influences. Thus, effective leadership is based on the extent to which the organisational leaders are not only committed to achieving the predetermined goals but also on strengthening employees. One of the most notable challenges encountered by leaders in executing their leadership role entails dealing with the gap between the organisation and their workforces’ needs. Failure to balance these needs may translate into a leadership crisis. Thus, leaders must appreciate the fact that employees have distinct needs from those of the organisation.
The literature documents numerous cases of failure in organisational leaders’ quest to implement change. The failure mainly arises from the lack of effective leadership characteristics of those in the leadership position. For example, effective leadership is fundamental in implementing organisational change such as merger and acquisitions. However, some organisational leaders do not appreciate the importance of the human capital dimension in implementing organisational change. On the contrary, they over-emphasise the organisation dimension (Dyck & Neubert, 2010).
Dyck and Neubert (2010) believe that leadership “entails the process used by managers in influencing others so that their work efforts lead to the achievement of organisational goals’ (p. 448). The extent to which leaders influence their followers depends on leadership potential. Shane (2010) emphasises that an individual’s genes affect his or her interest to lead or head a group.
Past studies conducted to determine the relationship between genetics and leadership potential show the existence of a significant correlation. One of the renowned tests entails the California Personality Inventory (CPI). A study involving twins raised by different families show a strong correlation in their leadership potential. The correlation between identical twins was as high as 47%, while that of fraternal twins was similar in only 18% of the cases evaluated, which underscores the view that leadership is genetic (Shane, 2010). The CPI index score shows that some individuals are born with inborn skills, which set them apart as leaders, and this aspect is evidenced by their capacity to direct others towards achieving a specific goal.
Lussier (2008) contends that the leadership style adopted by a particular leader is a factor of his or her behaviour, traits, and skills. These aspects are critical in determining the leaders’ capacity to influence their followers. Lussier and Achua (2010) define influencing as a process through which a leader communicates ideas and gains acceptance from his or her followers. Moreover, influencing involves motivating and providing support to followers to nurture a strong relationship. Thus, one can affirm that influence constitutes the essence of leadership.
Genetics further influence the individuals’ capacity to execute leadership role or attainment of the leadership position at the workplace (Shane, 2010). A study was conducted to assess the relationship between an individual’s genetics and progression up the leadership hierarchy. Over 30% of men who progressed through the managerial hierarchy were in a position to do so because of their genes, while 32% of women achieved this goal due to the same reason (Shane, 2010). Furthermore, Shane (2010) affirms that an individuals’ ability to plan, take risks, and lead depending on their genetic predisposition. The work environment only exposes individuals an opportunity to develop and exercise the genetic predisposition. Most individuals characterised by such predispositions successfully undertake the leadership role.
Leadership style and traits of successful leaders
Leaders adopt different styles in influencing their followers. Some leaders are focused on building consensus with their followers while others tend to command. Jack Welch, General Electric’s Chief Executive Officer, adopted transformative leadership (Shane, 2010). Some leadership styles are more valuable as compared to others. However, their effectiveness varies depending on the prevailing situation. In a bid to be successful in influencing followers, leaders need to possess the necessary leadership traits. According to Lussier (2008), traits differentiate leaders from non-leaders. Past research on leadership identifies several traits that are paramount in becoming effective leaders. These traits include self-confidence, drive, integrity, honesty, and intelligence.
One of the most successful leadership styles in influencing followers entails the charismatic leadership style. This leadership style inspires enthusiasm, loyalty, and commitment, which translate into positive performance. Charismatic leaders are successful in dealing with the prevailing situations. Successful leadership requires an individual to possess a high level of charisma, which is an innate characteristic. Leadership experts assert that the Americans elected Barrack Obama as the US president because of his charisma. The citizens perceived his charisma as a critical element that would have enabled the US to recover from the 2008 economic crisis (Shane, 2010).
Shane (2010) argues that an individual’s genetics determine his/her attitude and approach to leadership. This assertion shows that genetics form the basis of leadership. Charismatic leaders exude enthusiasm that translates into a strong influence on their followers and the development of a strong connection. Amongst the qualities that enable leaders to influence followers to include superb communication skills. Some of the common communication skills adopted include analogy, storytelling, and metaphors in communicating their vision. Thus, the leaders’ superb communication skills set charismatic leaders apart. Their eloquent, passionate presentation and imaginative characteristics arouse a sense of dissatisfaction with a particular situation, hence the need for change. Consequently, they are in a position to inspire their followers to embrace their vision. The available literature cites several charismatic leaders such as Martin Luther King, who greatly influenced his followers through his infamous speech, ‘I have a Dream’, and Mahatma Gandhi who envisioned a time whereby Muslims and Hindus in India would live in harmony (Lussier & Achua, 2010).
Charisma originates from an individual’s personality. Shriberg and Shriberg (2011) emphasise that genetic and early family “experiences play a significant role in developing the personality and character requirements that motivate an individual to lead” (p. 30). Moreover, genetics play a fundamental role in nurturing strong intellectual and interpersonal skills, which are critical in undertaking the leadership role. Some individuals tend to possess effective leadership skills due to their biological composition. The individual’s genetic composition further explains the existence of varied leadership skills adopted by individuals. Despite organisations’ pursuit for effective leadership through training, it is relatively difficult to entrench leadership traits amongst different leaders. The fact that leadership is a genetic composition is evidenced by the view that the leadership traits are manifested at an early age. For example, some children manifest leadership traits by their ability to influence their peers during their childhood games. These qualities predispose such children to be great leaders in the future.
Therefore, leadership is an innate phenomenon, and thus not everyone can be a leader. Lussier and Achua (2010) contend that charismatic leaders are heroes and they can utilise their allure, which is critical in leading people. Moreover, leaders need to ensure that their followers develop a strong vision for the future. The effectiveness with which the followers develop a strong vision depends on the quality of the leader. Therefore, the leader must be capable of visualising the future with a high degree of clarity. Charismatic leaders create a vision and they are highly passionate about it. However, a vision does not entail a mere statement of the organisational goals.
On the contrary, a vision entails “the ability to imagine different and better conditions and the way to achieve them” (Lussier & Achua, 2010, p. 83). Therefore, being visionary is a trait that is relatively difficult to learn through either training or experience. Lussier and Achua (2010) emphasise that leaders “who are not naturally charismatic may spend a lot of time perfecting their strength of character” (p. 56).
Numerous cases of leadership failure have been documented in the past decades. As one of the leaders at Dell, Michael Dell intended to transform the organisation’s culture through executive coaching. However, his inability to inspire his followers affected the development of a strong relationship with employees, which limited the attainment of the desired goal. This example shows that despite his knowledge of executive coaching, he did not have the charisma to entrench enthusiasm amongst employees.
Inspiring trust
One of the issues encountered in executing the process of undertaking the leadership role within organisations is change. However, successful implementation of a specific change project depends on the prevailing relationship between the leader and the follower. Lussier and Achua (2010) emphasise that trust is fundamental in developing a strong relationship. One of the issues that are critical in nurturing trust includes honesty. Thus, honest leaders are capable of positioning themselves as role models based on what they intend their followers to be in the future. The ability of leaders to inspire trust amongst their followers translates into a high level of credibility, hence gaining cooperation and support of all the parties involved. Mahatma Gandhi’s ability to influence a large number of individuals arose from the fact that he positioned himself as a role model. For example, he advocated non-violent resistance and sacrificed his lucrative law practice to engage in civil disobedience (Lussier & Achua, 2010).
However, from the above observation, one can argue that leaders who are not naturally charismatic may experience difficulty in entrenching a high level of trust amongst their followers. This assertion translates into a lack of connection with the followers. The inability to create a vision means that followers are not in a position to perceive how they fit into the organisation’s future or how their continued stay in the firm will be beneficial in the future. Additionally, it becomes relatively difficult for followers to attribute extraordinary or heroic leadership with leaders who are not naturally charismatic due to lack of certain behaviours. Consequently, the extent to which they can influence their followers is relatively low.
Self-confidence
Charismatic leaders are successful due to their self-confidence. These leaders depict remarkable and unshakable optimism and self-confidence, which is entrenched in their persona. Previous research on leadership has shown that a direct relationship exists between leadership effectiveness and self-confidence in the leader’s skills, ideas, and technical competencies. Lussier and Achua (2010) posit, “Self-confidence is a key personal characteristic of leaders that helps followers transform into self-confident leaders” (p. 89).
Leaders must depict high self-esteem to execute the leadership role effectively. An individual’s self-confidence is determined by his or her self-esteem and the ability to create vision and purpose. Moreover, communicating certainty is a critical leadership trait. Leaders must exercise self-confidence daily. Charismatic leaders promote messages characterised by political or religious overtones, which underscores their effectiveness in emphasising their moral conviction and strong faith towards the given message.
Emotional intelligence
Successful leadership requires individuals to depict a high level of intelligence, which determines the leaders’ reasoning skills and ability to express and share ideas and thoughts with others. The leaders’ intelligence determines their effectiveness in problem-solving and their understanding of complex organisational and situational issues. Leaders can enhance their intelligence through training, hence improving their capacity to deal with emerging leadership issues.
Some researchers caution that the intelligence gap between the leaders and followers’ skills should not be too huge to enhance the probability of connecting with the followers. This aspect shows that dissimilarity between the leaders and the followers’ level of intelligence might be counterproductive. Such issues underscore the importance of emotional intelligence in the leadership process. Emotional intelligence entails the leader’s ability to manage emotions that might arise from the leader or the followers. Individuals who are characterised by a high level of emotional intelligence tend to be effective leaders. Lussier (2008) argues that emotional intelligence is strongly entrenched in an individual’s ability to communicate emotionally, and thus it is indispensable in executing the leadership role.
Lussier (2008) emphasises that an individual’s emotional intelligence, which is equivalent to the Intelligence Quotient [IQ], is an innate aspect. No amount of training, coaching, or education can lead to the improvement of IQ. Therefore, great leaders cannot be made from intensive training. Moreover, Shane (2010) contends that an individual’s emotional intelligence is comprised of diverse aspects, which include social skills, self-awareness, motivation, and a high level of empathy. These elements are not subject to improvement through training.
High-risk orientation
The process of undertaking the leadership role is not free from risks. However, some leaders are not in a position to cope successfully with such risk. Thus, leaders must appreciate the risk-return relationship, which is a vital element in executing leadership in the contemporary business environment. Leaders are charged with the responsibility of steering their organisations to attaining positive organisational performance. The attainment of this goal is based on the degree to which the leader is willing to incur personal risk. Thus, the leader must be fearless to the extent that he or she ‘romantizes’ death as a possibility. Followers mainly tend to be attracted to individuals who are high-risk takers.
The high-risk orientation characteristic of charismatic leaders highlights their self-advocacy towards their vision. Despite receiving numerous death threats, Martin Luther King Junior did not quit pursuing his vision. Additionally, this characteristic sets charismatic individual as the most effective leaders. An individual’s genetics determines his or her attitude towards attaining the desired goal, hence how s/he influences others. Shane (2010) supports this view in his assertion that genetics account for over 40% of how individuals’ perceive the concept of leadership. Moreover, Shane (2010) emphasises that the “genetic predisposition that accounted for an individuals’ ancestors in heading hunting parties or running the clan, it seems, are still at work today, affecting our work” (p. 123).
Improving leadership
The above analysis affirms the assumption that leaders are born. In their quest to attain business excellence, organisations must consider the most effective strategy to adopt in tapping the inborn leadership characteristic amongst their workforce. One of the strategies that organisations can attain this goal is through designing an effective leadership training program. The training program should be based on the findings obtained from a comprehensive appraisal process. The appraisal should be aimed at identifying possible gaps that might limit the development of a strong connection with the followers.
One of the aspects that the organisations should consider in conducting an appraisal on the candidates’ potential leadership characteristic entails their personality. Such an approach will enable organisations to select job candidates who possess the traits that will culminate in effective implementation of the charismatic leadership skill. Even though leaders at Enron Corporation in the US adopted charismatic leadership, it was not sufficient due to lack of ethics. The leaders were not utterly committed to entrenching ethical conducts amongst their followers. Consequently, the firm’s employees engaged in fraud, which led to the collapse of the organisation (Lussier & Achua, 2010).
Methodology
This paper is based on the assumption that leaders are born and not made. The purpose of the research paper is to provide organisational leaders with insight on how they can utilise the view that leaders are born in their human resource management process. The research underscores the fact that leaders should consider this view in selecting job candidates to design and improve the effectiveness of the leadership training programs.
The study is conducted by integrating the literature review technique. Through the literature review, the study illustrates the assumption that leaders are born and not made. This goal has been achieved by identifying cases that illustrate the fact that leaders are born. In implementing the literature review technique, the researcher specifically used past studies documented in books. This aspect has improved the credibility of the research findings significantly.
Conclusion
The above analysis shows that leaders are born and not made. This assertion arises from the view that its implementation depends on the innate traits possessed by an individual. Despite the increased investment in leadership training currently being undertaken by different organisations, it is relatively difficult for the leadership training to culminate in the development of certain skills such as open communication. Moreover, the ability to exercise leadership depends on an individual’s natural intelligence/emotional intelligence.
The personal traits determine the individual’s ability to lead a group of people in different situations that might prove challenging to leaders who are ‘made’. The innate characteristic of the leaders makes it possible to implement heroic leadership. Other personal traits that culminate in great leadership include heroism, confidence, the ability to inspire trust, and high-risk orientation. These qualities are extensively entrenched in an individual’s genetic composition. Thus, it is impossible to create these personal traits through training but can only be improved.
Influencing followers is a challenging task if the leader does not possess the traits that make followers become attracted to him or her. The ability to influence the followers in such situations is based on the appreciation of the gap between the followers and the organisation. This aspect is enhanced by the leaders’ emotional intelligence and appreciation of developing a strong connection with the followers.
Individuals are born with innate leadership abilities. Thus, they cannot be made through training. However, organisations can improve their employees’ leadership skills through training. Therefore, organisations must ensure that the leadership training programs are based on the leadership characteristic possessed by employees. Organisations should engage in a comprehensive appraisal of the employees’ skills to determine the aspects to be integrated into the leadership-training program. This approach will not only translate into attaining the intended organisational goals, but it will also benefit employees. The assumption that leaders are born is illustrated by great leaders such as Steve Jobs [Apple Incorporation CEO], Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Junior who implemented charismatic leadership successfully, hence influencing their followers. Their success in leadership emanated from their unique personality.
References
Dyck, B., & Neubert, M. (2010). Management; current practices and new directions. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Kouzes J., & Posner, B. (2010). The leadership challenge. Westford, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
Lussier, R. (2008). Management fundamentals; concepts, application, skill development. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Lussier, R., & Achua, C. (2009). Leadership with Infotrac: theory, application, & skill development. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Shane, S. (2010). Born entrepreneurs, born leaders; how your genes affect your work life. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Shriberg, A., & Shriberg, D. (2011). Practicing leadership principles and applications, Westford, MA: John Wiley & Sons.