Are leaders born or created? It leadership an innate characteristic coded into our DNA? Or is it a set of skills we develop throughout a lifetime of experiences? Many researchers seek to explain leadership through one of these approaches, but what if it’s not that black and white? Leadership should not be examined from strictly the trait approach or strictly the skills approach, but from a joint perspective that focuses on the situational factors surround an instance of leadership (Northouse, 2013).
I’m currently a student at Penn State, where I study architectural engineering with a focus in construction management. As one might guess, I’m typically one of very few female students in my classes. As the minority in a male-dominated field of study, I’m oftentimes forced to display my leadership traits and behaviors in order to gain the attention and respect of my peers. In group projects, I’m almost always the leader. Due to traits like drive, integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and desire to lead, I am usually the first to initiate meetings, delegate responsibilities, and volunteer to submit the final draft of the project (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991). Some leadership behaviors I often exhibit in the classroom include problem-solving, empathy, and creativity (Mumford et al., 2000). This being said, I often exhibit both leadership traits and behaviors in the classroom.
While I am a successful leader in the classroom, I struggle to demonstrate these skills and traits when I am on the job. Outside of school, I have been working as an assistant project manager at a commercial general contracting company on and off for the last four years. In the office, I’m introverted, have low self-confidence, and I take failures very personally (Costa & McCrae, 1988). Behaviorally, I lack the competencies and knowledge necessary to be a leader in the construction industry (Mumford et al., 2000). In my position, I’m required to manage and oversee people with much more experience and knowledge of the business. This power imbalance causes me to doubt myself, resulting in low self-confidence. This in turn results in poor leadership.
As one can see, my leadership success is not determined by my traits or behaviors, but by the situation in which I am to lead. While I possess many of the traits of a leader, and I demonstrate several of the skills of a leader, I am not always a successful leader.
References:
Northouse, Peter. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles. Sage.
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: Do traits matter? The Executive, 5(2), 48-60. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
Costa, P. T., Jr. , & McCrae, R. R. (1988). From catalog to classification: Murray’s needs and the five factor model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 258-265.
Moataz Moustafa Sidahmed says
Hey Mirand,
In my experience and what I have learnt through research and actually seeing it with my own eyes is that leadership is “made” or “created” – your word.
What is a leader in your perspective? A leader to me is someone I can follow or be influenced by. I take every parent is a leader. They teach you right from wrong, they have influence you and you follow them. Not all parents are alike but I think you get what I mean.
Difference in skills and attributes that people “learn”. Do not say you are not a good leader, you may not be a leader in one aspect in your life, but you may be later on.
Kindly find this link (reference) and see what I mean that leaders are made by learning, observing and teaching.
Thanks for your post you made me really want to reply to it to be honest!
Have a great day ahead!
References:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141026042807-150905450-are-leaders-born-or-made-a-true-story/
Ehren Van Wart says
Hi Mirand,
It seems this research is teaching you much on this dynamic topic. The question of how important traits are for the leader was something I was very interested in figuring out as well. I like how you distinguish a difference between the trait approach and skills approach, as one can wrongfully blur them together as the same thing. I like that you didn’t forget your original question and at the end explain that situation plays a crucial role in leadership.
I concur with you that “traits and skills doth not a leader make” (Weitzel). It became clear to me that leaders are more than the sum of their traits after considering “the failure of the trait approach to delimit a definitive list of leadership traits” (Northouse, pg. 30) and “the trait approach has not adequately linked the traits of leaders with other outcomes such as group and team performance” (pg.41). If traits and skills were the only components of what a leader consists of then I’m sure we would have a definitive list and a link of traits with outcomes.
Like you, I take failures personally. I only consider it my failure if I am the cause (or if I gave the responsibility to another). I use this failure as a learning experience and try my best to prevent this mistake in the future. I don’t beat myself up about it too much though because I know I need to take some risks to grow. And I know I’m far from perfect. “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor” (Lamott, 1995).
You explain your situation in a way that seems open for feedback, so I’m assuming your open-minded and flexible. One rhetorical question for you, if you know that you “lack the competencies and knowledge necessary to be a leader in the construction industry” then why “struggle to demonstrate […] skills and traits […] on the job” (Weitzel). I propose that energy can be spent in more productive ways.
“People have power when they have the ability to affect others’ beliefs, attitudes, and courses of action” (Northouse, pg. 10). As the people at your job have “much more experience and knowledge of the business” (Weitzel) it seems that you may lack power, i.e., the “capacity or potential to influence” (pg. 10). To be a leader at your job you must have influence. “Without influence, leadership does not exist” (pg. 6). Even if you are assigned a leadership position, influence is still necessary for you to lead.
Concerning your class leadership, I challenge you to adapt this process to other situations. I’m a full-time student and full-time worker as well, and when someone takes initiative on a group project I’m glad to hand over the drafting process. For me, this is because of exhaustion and less that I’m a follower. I step in at some point and make sure I earn my grade. The point I’m trying to make, although I agree you’re a leader in this situation, leadership in other situations will be different. “People who possess certain traits that make them leaders in one situation may not be leaders in another situation” (Northouse, pg.31). This is surely why you’re in this class—to learn leadership—as I am too.
Thank you for your post Mirand. You did a great job. I hope my comments are taken in a positive light. I want to be helpful. Based on your honesty with self and your inclinations I think you will be very successful. “An open-minded approach can create a better future for people” (A.P., 2018). Feel free to criticize the heck out of my posts, lol. Here’s to a great summer!
Works Cited
AP (2018). Associated Press. Blair urges students to become open-minded global leaders. Jan 16, 2018. Newspaper Article. Gulf News.
Lamott, A. (1995). Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life (1st Anchor Books ed.). New York: Anchor Books.
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice (Seventh ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Leayle Benjamin says
Mirand,
I commend you on your leadership ability within the classroom setting. Being the minority, you are able to execute flawlessly as a leader and with great confidence. Applying what we learned this week about personality traits, I think the major reason why your leadership ability does not transfer over so greatly within your job is attributed to your fear of failure. You mentioned that you take criticism personally. As long as the criticism is constructive, you should embrace that criticism since it will help you along with your leadership development. I completely understand having to deal with managing people that is more experienced and knowledgeable than you are since I am going through that right now at my job. Through managing them and gaining their feedback, it has helped tremendously in my leadership ability. It may be tough to deal with but criticism from the more experienced workers will help you as well. Great blog!