Lauren Beel

Leadership & Management

20011662
Nature vs Nurture? Are Leaders Born or are they Made?

Word Count - 1852

You are not born a leader, you become one A proverb which is quoted by
the Bambileke people in West Africa (Source; Adair, 2009, 17) but is this

true? It is argued however that you cannot be a leader unless you are born
with certain attributes which form your personality, ultimately forming the
qualities of a leader. Our personalities are formed partly from our genetics
and when looking at the opposing argument that leaders are born and not
made, evidence to support this comes from personality studies such as
the twins study Its nature, not nurture, personality lies in genes.
(Source; Collins, 2012)
A leader is an individual that leads or commands a group of people; this
may be within work, in an organisation, a country etc. It is an individual;
that has the ability to be followed by others. Along with vison, drive and
enthusiasm a leader is made up of many differing personal qualities.
Costa and McCrae (Source; Costa and McCrae, 2005) summarises a leader
using the big five attributes. Firstly there is, openness, which includes, a
sense of adventure, creativity and imagination. Secondly there is
conscientiousness, which can be translated into being efficient, organised,
dependable and ambitious. Thirdly there is extroversion, which means
being, outgoing and energetic. This is followed by agreeableness, which is
built up of being cooperative, compassionate and friendly. Finally there is
neuroticism, which is summarised as being sensitive towards others and
being evenly tempered. Each one of these attributes builds up an
individuals personality but this then creates the question; Are they
achieved through life experience? Through upbringing? or Are they gained
through genetics and at birth? Another quality of becoming a good leader
is setting an example and not telling others to do what you do not practise
yourself. Nietzche, a German philosopher, argues that in order to fulfil
your greatest potential then you must own up to envy (Source; The
Philosophers Mail, Date Unknown). He argued that envy is a large part of
life but in general this is hidden and we are made to feel ashamed of
becoming or feeling envious towards another person. However, if we
handled this in the correct manner it could be turned around and
embraced. He said that everything that makes us envious is a fragment
of our true potential, bitterness is envy that doesnt understand itself, we
must become conscious of our true potential, put up a heroic fight to

honour it, and only then mourn failure with solemn frankness and
dignified honour. When looking at a leaders personality, Sigmund Freud
stated that personality is made up of three parts, this is the id, the ego
and the superego (Source; BooksCaps Study Guide, 2011). These three
names symbolise the way that Freud sectioned off the brain he believed
the id dominates your brain at birth, and that the id desires, wants; it
needs to be fulfilled without any regard for others. Freud believed that as
you grow older and your brain develops further it sections off into a
further two areas, the ego and the superego. The ego forms part of your
personality which makes decisions and relies on reality principles and
controls urges predominantly the id. The superego is your conscious, your
sensitive side and it is said to make decisions rationally and decides what
is acceptable. A leader should have a fine balance on these three parts of
the brain. For example if the id shows too much than the individual may
be aggressive however if the superego showed too much, then the
individual would be too fragile.
Our nature is our chemistry, our genetics and what we inherit from our
family members. We inherit the way we look, but scientists are still trying
to prove if our personalities are inherited also. We are born with a unique
personality and how this is developed is argued greatly. According to
research conducted by Cambridge University (Source; Johnson, 1998) it
has been said that On average, individual differences in personality have
been found to be approximately 40% heritable. Research has shown
(Source; Robin, 2013) That it may take several genetic combinations for
a child to have a certain personality trait, genes can switch on and off,
sometimes because of environmental factors, other times because of
genetic influences Genes can affect chemical messengers such as
seratonin and dopamine, which can have profound effects on the brain
and influence personality traits such as anxiety or shyness, according to
the Genome News Network. Therefore, looking at certain personality
traits such as creativity, a sense of adventure, being outgoing and
energetic these are certainly traits you are born with but if they are
embraced and nurtured by the path you follow in life, then these traits

would surely grow stronger? However if they are not embraced, would the
person with this traits recognise that they had these traits at all?
Nurture is the way we are brought up, the examples in life that are set,
and the experiences we have. Nurture plays a large factor of who we are
as individuals. If we were brought up in a home of leaders would they
influence us to become a leader ourselves? Alternatively if we were
influenced throughout our lives that this does not necessarily mean that
we have the personality to back this up. Freuds theory embraces the idea
of personality progression and growth, but it was said that it cannot be
changed once childhood is over. This has been argued against by people
such as Vince Lombardi an American Coach and Executive, who quotes
(Source; Forbes, 2013) Leaders arent born, they are made. And they are
made just like anything else, through hard work. And thats the price well
have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. Attributers of a leader such
as compassion, empathy, good communication skills and ambition are
typically personality traits that are gained throughout our childhood,
through following other peoples examples and through our upbringing,
through nurture.
During the Second World War (Source; Adair, 2009, 5) a group captain
named Douglas Bader was shot down over France. His subordinate an Air
Vice Marshall Jonny Johnson wrote about his Captain being shot down in
his biography called Wing Leader (1956) he wrote The high skys would
never be the same again, gone was the confident, eager often scornful
voice . Exhorting us, sometimes cursing us, but always holding us
together in fight. Gone was the greatest tactician of them all. Today
marked the end of an era that was rapidly becoming a legend. The
elusive, intangible qualities of leadership can never be taught, for a man
either has them or he hasnt. Badger had them in full measure and on
every flight had shown us how to apply them Johnson firmly believes
here that leaders, his leader, was born and was not made as Captain
Badger guided them and led the way. After his death the subordinates

were without a leader and although guided and shown the way none of
them felt able enough to take their Captains place.
Charles Handy (1992) agrees with this notion, he believes that leadership
skills cannot be achieved through being taught. However he puts a twist
on this and although he believes the skills cannot be taught he does
believe they can be learnt, discovered, and be embraced with the attitude
of being willing to grow. Handy insists that for leadership to develop there
are four key areas that need to be adopted (Source; Sadler. 1997, 101).
These are Manoeuvre, self-belief, a broad perspective and to tolerate
loneliness.
It could also be argued that is a leader great in what they do because that
is their field of interest? Therefore, is a leader if they are interested in the
chosen field, they will have more drive, interest and enthusiasm compared
to somebody that hasnt, for example Captain Douglas Bader was great at
what he did as he had an interest in this area. As a child did he enjoy
playing with military figures and planes? If Captain Douglas Badger was to
lead in a manufacturing environment would he have been as good at that
as he was at flying? To be a leader you need representative qualities. To
be a good military leader you must possess physical courage. To be a
good nurse you must possess empathy and a caring nature. To be a
teacher you need knowledge and tactics. If you do not possess these then
others will not follow your example. Therefore leadership not only lies with
personality and how we act it also lies with our talents and our interests
which cannot be taught but also arguable they cannot be learnt.
This argument of nature vs nurture has been ongoing for many years and
ultimately is a question of science, however many philosophers,
leadership experts and corporations are trying to answer it. Recently a
cooperation called CCL (Source; Centre for Creative Leadership, 2012)
conducted a survey with 361 people who claimed to be top level within
their organisation, they asked the 361 people are Leaders born or are they
made? They did not ask this question as they wanted to know the answer
as the question is quite rhetorical and is based on the individuals

thoughts and ideas, they asked the question for exactly that reason that it
is down to the individual. They believe that what we believe about Leaders
is what we expect a Leader to be for example if we expect the leader to
be a superhero figure then we expect the leader to be a strong dictator
and somebody who takes charge, but if we think a Leader should be
dedicated and focused then we would expect the Leader to be strong and
assertive. Similarly our beliefs about how someone has become a leader,
born or made? Helps corporations such as the ccl gauge our Leadership
styles and if we are the right Leader for them they quote (Source; ccl,
2012) Understanding whether people in your organization think leaders
are born or made is critical because these attitudes play out in recruiting,
promotion and development decisions If the individual believes that
Leaders are born than this identifies they have the natural ability, they are
organised and efficient. Whereas if they believed that Leaders are made
this shows that the individual is eager and keen to learn and develop and
also could fulfil a Leadership role with their drive and enthusiasm.
In conclusion the question of nature vs nurture is simple. You need both
nature and nurture to thrive as a Leader. In order to be a good leader you
need to be born with certain personality qualities/skills/traits which they
need to be embraced and nurtured as you grow in life. Without nature of
certain traits such as being outgoing or adventurous then you cannot
nurture this, you cannot nurture what is not there. As Handy suggests you
can learn and this is agreeable with certain skills but not all of them.
Nature and nurture are equally important. If you are born with the skills of
being outgoing and adventurous then these skills need to be embraced
through nurture, the skills need to be built upon in order to recognise
them and to achieve through them. Life skills and experience make the
leader better but the leader was already there.

References
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Edition. United Kingdom London; Pan Macmillan Books.
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[online] The Philosophers Mail. Available from
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[Accessed 08/01/15]

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id=GbYtmVJC09kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sigmund+freud+id+ego+superego
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A behaviour genetic investigation of leadership style. Cambridge University
Press. 1 (4). 1-2. Available from http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=
%2FTHG
%2FTHG1_04%2FS1369052300000465a.pdf&code=9073569dc38837a48a9e7b5
04bdd5319 [Accessed 09/01/15]
Robin, Suzanne (16th August 2013) Do Children Inherit Their Parents Personalities
[online] Live Strong.com. Available from
http://www.livestrong.com/article/562015-do-children-inherit-their-parentspersonalities/ [Accessed 09/01/15]
Sadler, Phillip (1997) Leadership. United Kingdom. London. Kogan Page Limited
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Approaches, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications Ltd.
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[Accessed 08/01/15]