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June 12, 2008

The old debate over whether leaders are born or made yields a simple answer with one revision to the question. Are leaders born and made? Of course they are! Nature and nurture both play critical roles in how people develop as leaders.

People vary systematically on a variety of traits and characteristic that we can define and measure. Many are strongly influenced by genetics and early life experiences. A large body of scientific research has consistently shown correlations between some of these attributes and success as a leader. The reasons for those correlations may be obvious, such as the high assertiveness that many successful leaders possess. They may be less obvious or related to other factors, such as tall men and women being more likely to emerge as leaders (Judge & Cable, 2004). Unfortunately, some result from historical precedent or irrelevant factors, such as race or gender.

If genetics or early life experiences determine some attributes that leaders possess, then the argument for "born" leaders seems to be strong. If I were born with short genes, then my leadership prospects were clearly limited, at birth. Once grown, a person cannot "develop" more height. However, a closer look reveals a more complex relationship between physical stature and leadership success. There are attitudes that tall people tend to develop more easily, such as social esteem and self-esteem. These attitudes help the individual to behave in ways that drive high performance. High performance leads to ascendancy to leadership positions.

Difficult as it may be, I can change my attitude and my behavior, so I can see the path to developing those things that can make me a leader. Perhaps tall people develop them more easily than I will, but I can learn to have the attitudes and exhibit the behaviors that come more naturally to many tall people.

Once I have identified and changed those attitudes and behaviors, I have an advantage, because I have also developed awareness and have taken more direct control over my development as a leader.

At Assess Systems, we approach leadership development from both the born and made vantage points. Starting with effective business outcomes in mind, we help organizations understand how successful leaders behave to achieve those outcomes.

Once we understand the behaviors, organized into competencies, then we can point to the innate abilities and personal characteristics that enable the behaviors. We can also point people to areas where behavior change needs to occur through development of new attitudes and skills.

Two kinds of assessments form a foundation for our leadership development programs, from executive coaching to classroom-based training. 360° feedback provides the leader with an unvarnished sampling of how others perceive his or her behavior.

Just as a mirror provides an image of your physical appearance that may not sync entirely with your internal image, 360° feedback helps the leader align his or her internal perceptions with the way the rest of the world sees them.

The second kind of assessment compares the leader’s scores on a range of innate abilities and characteristics to a normative group of peer leaders. These include personality measures and abilities tests.

Combining the results of the two types of assessment provides a comprehensive summary of where the individual’s development strengths and opportunities lie. The development strategy and plan become clearer when the leader knows what comes naturally and not so naturally and how others perceive current leadership behavior.

All leaders are born, and, as Peter Drucker said, "leaders grow, they are not made." If your organization would like to learn more about growing leaders Assess Systems offers the following opportunities:

Succession Planning and Building Bench Strength Webinar :: Video (plugin)
Building High Performing Organizations Webinar :: July 16th 2008
Assess Development Certification Seminar :: August 27-28th 2008 - Dallas, TX :: November 10-12th 2008 - UK
Assess Leading Others Development Workshop and Train-the-Trainer :: For more information contact Jane Carter
Executive Assessment and Coaching :: For more information contact Steve Hardesty

Judge, T. A., & Cable, J. E. (2004). The Effect of Physical Height on Workplace Success and Income: Preliminary Test of a Theoretical Model, Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 428–441