Are There Really Born Leaders?

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“Born Leader.” Those two words always give me a chill.

Two reasons.

First, executives tend to look for who they think are, or who appears to be born with some sort of natural leadership talent. What they find are employees who are outgoing (extroverts) and charismatic. What they miss are employees who are quieter (introverts) and not as charismatic.

Second, when they find these outgoing, charismatic people, executive leaders tend to think those people don’t need a lot of leadership training and guidance. After all, they’re “born leaders,” right?

There are people who seem to have traits that make them more likely to succeed as leaders. These traits have more to do with ability to think and reason, interpersonal skills, and personal drive. Notice though that these are all traits that can, at least partially, be trained and developed.

Loud, charismatic employees may be attractive because it appears that others naturally tend to follow them, and that may be the case. Over time though, that will wear thin and when real leadership decisions are required these types of “born leaders” tend to err on the side of popularity instead of what’s right for the company.

This is not to say that extrovert employees will not make good leaders. They might. Just don’t neglect other potential leaders who are not as obvious, and remember, everyone you move to a supervisor or manager position requires leadership development.

Most likely there are many in your company who can become good leaders so look a little beyond those who appear to be “born leaders” and discover the ones who have the traits necessary to become successful leaders.

Check out chapter five for more tips on selecting and developing your next leaders. Get Don’t Worry, You Can Do This! What New Supervisors and Managers Need to Know About Leadership.