Leaders; born or made?

As J.C. Maxwell says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
Everywhere we turn in today’s world, we see evidence of good leadership and evidence of poor leadership. We see schools built, and schools dilapidated. We see roads paved, and roads full of potholes. We see crime contained, and we see crime permitted.

Some fathers provide for their family according to their means; some do not provide despite their means. Some mothers pay attention to the family details; some are not concerned about such. Some boys look for good role models all life long, some girls just can’t find who will tell them how to!

Yet, in all of these, there are usually leaders-in-place, positional leaders who occupy roles and offices. The big question is if they deliver the requirements of those offices.

There are many ways to identify leadership capacities in kids: the kids who say “let us” are likely to be natural. Let’s cross the road here; let’s not play with that kid anymore. Let’s form a football team, a dance club, a gang, etc. This suggests that some are born leaders.

However, one of the organisations in which it is impossible for you not to be a leader is the military. At some points you will have to lead someone or some people. And as you grow, your team grows!

If the results of leadership we see are not satisfactory, maybe it’s time to look away from who has inherent leadership skills and begin to teach the skills with the values we expect to see propagated in our societies. And the earlier, the better.