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Understanding whether top management in your organization thinks
leaders are born or made can be critical because these attitudes play out in
decisions of who to recruit to the organization and/or how staff will be

developed. The approach of believing that people are born leaders is likely
to result in a focus more on selection (identifying the right people) rather
than on development (developing the people you hire). On the other hand,
believing that people are made into leaders by their learning and their
experiences would be more likely to result in a greater focus on making
certain that people had the right opportunities to develop into leaders. In
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other words, will your organization spend its money on selecting people
believed to be born leaders, or on developing people into becoming
leaders? Will executives emphasize selection of talent and only invest in
those who they believe have leadership potential? Or will they see value in
developing talent among a broad group of people?
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Research has shown clearly that extraverts, which may be an in-born
characteristic, have greater leadership potential than introverts. However,
evidence indicates that only the socially skilled extraverts emerge as
leaders, and it can probably be safely assumed that social skills are learned.
It would appear that extraversion is only an in-born leadership advantage
if one also learns and develops effective “soft skills” such as

communication and being able to connect with people. Otherwise, if
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people possessing early gifts for leading don’t build on their capacities and
instead rest on their laurels, they are destined for a life of frustration and
lack of fulfillment as leaders.

Understanding leadership development is a complex affair, however, since
a wide range of varying experiences contribute to that development. It is
important to point out that two people can have many similar experiences
and events in their life at the same point in their development, but end up
very dissimilar in terms of their leadership potential. One person may be

18 William Gentry, et.al., “Are Leaders Born or Made: Perspectives from the Executive Suite,” Center for
Creative Leadership, March 2012, p. 4.
19 William Gentry, et.al., “Are Leaders Born or Made: Perspectives from the Executive Suite,” Center for
Creative Leadership, March 2012, p. 4.
20 Ronald E. Riggion, “Are Leaders Born or Made? Why the Question Itself Is Dangerous, Psychology
Today, December 29,2010.

David Kolzow 14