There’s no doubt that there are some people out there that are blessed to be natural-born leaders. They are people-people and they just get it. However, that doesn’t mean that those of us that don’t necessarily have the innate skills to lead, can’t become great leaders. It will take a lot of self-awareness and learning. But, continuous learning isn’t just for the not-so-natural born leader.
I’ve had the awesome experience of working for and consulting with some of those natural-born leaders. The ones you can’t get enough of and want to be around learning from all day long. The ones that transform work places and make going to work exciting and something we can’t wait for. Here’s the thing, though. A couple of the natural-born leaders I’ve worked with didn’t know why they were great leaders. They didn’t know what it was about their personality, communication style or leadership philosophy that engaged their people. They didn’t know why what they were doing was working or if they should even keep doing it.
My conversations with these leaders revealed confusion and angst about doing the right thing. They didn’t even know they were doing the right thing in many cases and spent too much time oscillating on their decisions – doubting their decisions. This doubt can lead a great leader down a not-so-great leader path very quickly. This is why, in my humble opinion, it is important for even the natural-born leaders to learn about leadership, their leadership and what motivates and engages their people.
What makes a great leader great? Is that learned or innate?
Advance The Scene 