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250-300 words
Respond to each post (include 2 references)
Post #1
Why do you believe leaders are born, or is leadership a learned skill? When discussing traits approach Peter G. Northouse talks about “The great man” theories where he states that it is, “Focused on identifying the innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, and military leaders” (Northouse, 2016, p. 19). Additionally, Northouse (2016) points out that back than the belief is that leaders were born to be leaders (p. 19). The great man theory certainly could be subjective. There are many schools of thoughts therefore, I believe it could be interpreted by one’s belief. For instance, author Christopher M. Bache in his article Rethinking Reincarnation he mentions that a majority of the world’s population believe in the theory of reincarnation (Bache, 1992, p. 150). If that is so, what is to say some of the great leaders we have had was born into leadership? I do believe that there are folks that are natural born leaders that show traits at very young ages. I would also agree that through people influence, and the environment they are developed to fall into the role of leadership through training and development. In a Psychology Today, article Leaders: Born or Made? author Ronald E. Riggio agrees as he states it best, “To expect that a person would be born with all of the tools needed to lead just doesn’t make sense based on what we know about the complexity of social groups and processes” (Riggio, 2009, para. 1). On Becoming a Leader: The Leadership Classic the author states it best, “People begin to become leaders at that moment when they decide for themselves how to be” (Bennis, 2009, p. 49). Moreover, Bennis (2009) discusses the two type leaders as “Once born and twice-born” where once-born came from well-off families whereas twice-born are those who generally have lived a life a struggled life, “isolated” as the author mentions. He goes on to mention that because of these adversities twice-born are generally independent in their beliefs and thinking.
References
Bache, C. M. (1992, July 1). Rethinking reincarnation. Journal Of Religion & Psychical Research, 15(3), 149-152. Retrieved from http://libproxy.chapman.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=aph&AN=8637036&site=eds-live
Bennis, W. (2009). On becoming a leader: The leadership classic. Philadelphia, PA, USA: Perseus Books Group.
Ferrell, R. S. (2016). What makes a good leader? Army Sustainment, 1(18). Retrieved from http://libproxy.chapman.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=edsgea&AN=edsgcl.441491231&site=eds-live
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practices (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publication Inc.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc
.
Riggio, R. E. (2009). Leaders: Born or made? Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200903/leaders-born-or-made
Post #2
Research by Arvey etal. (2006) in which identical twins were studied suggest that leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made. I come from a family of leaders and definitely possess a lot of the leadership traits of my family members so I can see how leadership can be inherent. Trait theorists believe that people have inherent qualities that make them better suited for leadership. In my family for example, we are all musically inclined, have superior running speed and we are good with mathematics. We just naturally excel in these areas. This is not to say that these qualities cannot be learned by other people, however because these are natural qualities for us, I believe we tend to more easily excel in these areas without much effort. Any additional training in these areas would result in skill mastery which would only help.
However, I do believe that the majority of leadership skills are developed. I cannot imagine a person being born with all the leadership skills and knowledge that is necessary to be an effective leader. The best leaders are developed over time by learning from mistakes, taken on new challenges and sharpening their skills via formal and informal training opportunities. Learning to become a good leader is a very humbling process because it involves a lot of self-reflection. You have to understand your strengths and weaknesses so that you can know what areas to target for further development.
References:
Allen, S. J. et al (2012). Emotionally intelligent leadership: An integrative, process-
oriented theory of student leadership. Journal of Leadership Education, vol.11, 1.
Arvey, R. D., Rotundo, M., Johnson, W., Zhang, Z., & McGue, M. (2006). The determinants of leadership role occupancy: Genetic and personality factors. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 1-20.
Post #3
I believed that leadership could be taught and also believe that we have natural born leaders. Based on the literature, it is clear that leaders are both born and grown. “One leadership theory suggests that certain people were born with a distinctive trait that makes them great leaders (Northouse, p 40)”. One example of a leadership trait is determination, take Terry Fox for instance; He was the 18-year-old Canadian who was diagnosed with bone cancer. He was determined to raise awareness and funds for cancer research by setting out to run a marathon (26 miles every day) from coast to coast for donations. Terry Fox spent 137 days on the road and ran 3, 339 miles before his cancer spread to his lungs, and was taken to the hospital (Terryfoxcanada, 2010). Even though Terry Fox never got to finish the marathon, his legacy did. He passed away on June 28, 1981. Whats more inspiring is that he ran all these miles with a prosthetic leg which was amputated due to his cancer. By 2010 his determination for this cause helped raised over 500 million dollars.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc
Trerryfoxcanada (2010, September 19). The Terry Fox Story: . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1QOtPDAAeY
