Are Leaders born or made?
An often-asked question is, “are leaders born or made?” I now know the simple answer to this question is “yes!” However, when I was getting my start in leadership I would have answered this very differently. Originally, I put a lot of stock in the idea that some people are born to be leaders and there was little hope for everyone else. When I had my own crisis moment and realized that although I had some rough leadership skills I was in no way good at leading; I told that story here.
My thinking has changed dramatically over the years based on experience and a whole lot of learning. I now believe, some people may start with a predisposition toward leadership but it takes a lot more to be a high-quality leader. It takes vision, guts, effort and a willingness to be vulnerable to be a world class leader. The good news is that no matter where your skills are today you can learn and build the skills you need. Step one is to embrace the truth that if you are willing to put in the effort anything is possible. And I mean anything! Carol Dweck eloquently makes this case (including some rock-solid science) in her book Mindset. If you are only going to read one book, this is the one!
It takes real courage to embark on the journey of self-discovery. My journey started with me investing the time to get to know myself; to take a long look in the mirror and identify the things I am good at and the things I needed to improve. I had to figure my why; that reason for getting out of bed every morning. What I discovered is I love nothing more than helping people be successful. Not just your run of the mill success the crazy kind of successful that you never dreamed was possible — that is what I work toward every day.
To help people be crazy successful means I need to be someone worth following, not by force or manipulation, but by choice. I increased my skills by engaging with people who had these skills, listened to the feedback and worked to add the skills. Three books that I found particularly helpful in adding these skills are, David Novak’s Taking People with You; Simon Sinek’s Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last.
As I became more comfortable with who I am, it allowed me to be open to new ideas and to try new things without a guarantee of success. I started to learn from failure rather than be devastated by it. That removed the stigma and fear from failure which then allowed my team and I to move faster and to embrace the ideas of failing fast and failing forward. More about the importance of failure at another time.