Brief Summary
This video addresses the age-old question of whether leaders are born or made, ultimately arguing that leadership is a skill developed through learning, practice, and mentorship. It debunks the myth of innate leadership qualities, emphasising the importance of acquiring skills, values, and experiences to become an effective leader. The discussion highlights the role of education, mentorship, and coachability in leadership development, encouraging viewers to actively invest in their leadership journey.
- Leadership is a learned skill, not an innate trait.
- Mentorship and coachability are crucial for leadership development.
- Deliberate investment in education and experiences is essential for becoming a better leader.
The video begins by posing the question of whether leaders are born with innate qualities or if leadership is a skill that can be learned and developed. The discussion references various influential figures, from Alexander the Great to Nelson Mandela, questioning whether their leadership was inherent or acquired. The initial query sets the stage for exploring the nature of leadership and how individuals develop into leaders.
It's argued that leaders are made, not born, and that the influential figures mentioned earlier developed their skills over many years. Becoming a leader involves adopting values and beliefs, and developing skills in areas such as public speaking, motivation, and communication. The speaker references Aristotle's triangle of ethos, pathos, and logos, explaining that credibility (ethos), logical reasoning (logos), and communication skills (pathos) are learned, not innate. While genetic endowments may play a role, leadership is primarily a social science and a skill that is acquired through learning and practice.
Research indicates that leadership skills are learned, not innate. Studies, including those involving twins, demonstrate that leadership is more influenced by non-genetic factors, such as learning and the intention to become a leader. Leadership is described as a state, not a trait, implying that anyone can become a leader through skill-building, practice, education, and mentorship. Taking on jobs that maximise learning opportunities is also crucial for growth within an organisation.
Mentorship is highlighted as a critical component of leadership development. Mentors provide feedback, coaching, and ideas, offering valuable advice and counsel. Seeking advice from mentors, including peer mentors, can expand one's perspective and provide opportunities for growth. Ultimately, being coachable is essential for benefiting from mentorship, requiring individuals to listen, follow advice, and suspend their own judgement. Coachability is a fundamental skill that enables individuals to learn, be influenced, and, in turn, coach others effectively.
The video concludes by reinforcing the idea that leaders are made, encouraging viewers to embark on their leadership journey. It emphasises the importance of deliberately investing in oneself, acquiring relevant experiences and education, and seeking out mentors. By making leadership a practice and continuously developing their skills, individuals can become better leaders and contribute to their organisations and communities.
Summarize any YouTube video in seconds
Get summaries like this one for any video, in your language, with the free Summ app.
Transcript
YouTube Transcript Generator
0:00 so S I need your help uh to sort of understand uh this this question that sort of dogs the leadership uh literature uh and the field quite a bit are you born leader right uh from birth you were said that's the leader that's what it's going to be or are you made a leader do you become a leader do you learn to be a leader um you know when I see my views of leadership from Alexander the Great to Mahatma Gandhi uh to MLK uh uh Malcolm X uh um to Barack Obama uh to NASA Mandela you know we we see amazing
0:46 figures uh who uh even with Teresa who who sort of who all look different and do different things but in many ways uh have this innate leadership quality like it's just in their bones it's in their DNA it's in their uh in how they show up um what do you think I think that absolutely leaders are made all these fantastic leaders that you just named were many years in the making if you think about any one of those leaders and they developed many skills along the way public speaking skills values and belief
1:34 systems that every leader needs to adopt by the way part of becoming a leader is to have a set of values and beliefs that you uniquely hold yes that drives all that you do an example of that is what is your philosophy of human behavior do you trust people and Empower do you control people in order to make them do things so you need to make decisions on your own that's part of the leadership development Journey but as you described all these fabulous leaders they learned skills around how to mobilize how to motivate how to set an agenda how to um uh convey and communicate that agenda how to persuade um there's there's this
2:21 Aristotle uh um uh triangle that I love where he talks about ethos pathos and logos as uh leadership skills ethos speaks to credibility yes all the leaders you described have credibility and they've earned those credibility they weren't born with the credibility logos but does but wait wait a second does that you know if you come from a big family if you were like XYZ kid of XYZ don't you get a lot of credibility given to you anyway no okay if you think about those folks they might have some advantage but this credibility is absolutely earned and it's it's um it manifests in
3:08 what you say what you do and it's observable yeah so in fact um unless you have developed these uh credentials over time or credibility over time it's very difficult to have people follow you the second uh piece that Aristotle has advanced called logos is incred important because it speaks to logical reason that's a skill people have to believe that you have logical reasoning the capacity to um intu it Based on data and other things and finally uh he talks about pathos that's communication skills that's the ability to persuasively convey to to others those are learned
3:55 skills no one is born with them now I'll Grant you this uh there 's this concept called genetic endowment by a Stanford University uh scholar uh by the name of Schwarz who says that we all are born with certain characteristics we do have them and that's part of what we use in our careers in our lives we can't ignore that so someone with a booming voice you use that to communicate but the booming voice doesn't Define your leadership so they're they're genetic endowments that are part of our makeup but and and and once we know how to use them towards good and Leadership we can apply them so there's that piece of it in terms of our
4:40 Birthright but otherwise leadership is a Social Science Leadership is a skill you're absolutely not born as a leader you become one yeah so let's get their view let's I love for you to now sort of uh think about both points right think about uh uh the arguments for why leaders are born uh again reflect back on your own perspectives and what you've come up with and then also given what s doll soless were the points for leaders being made be being a real practice because this conversation between yourselves will be helpful because many people have this view that leaders are born so write that write that down and even if you don't think that write it down because just take the opposite view
5:26 think about your friends who might be saying that think about your family MERS are being said are saying that and write down those points and then then write down the points about leaders being made sadal Let's just bust this myth about being a born leader uh what do we know from research what do you know from your experiences what do you mean from your o what do you know from your own mentoring of other leaders what what what's the what's the answer here the answer here of course can you bust the myth let's I mean it's busted we need to keep it busted uh is that uh re research shows that leadership skills are not innate that they're learned number one and they've been so many studies including of twins so genetic genetic genetic born
6:12 the same minute the same family the same family the same social context the same socioeconomic scenario and um found that leadership was more influenced by non- gentic factors it's all about the learning and the intention to become a leader so the reason I love this conversation that we're having is that ultimately leadership is a state not a trait and anyone can become a leader wait wait say say more State not a leadership is a state and not a trait and that anyone can become a leader yeah and that's what we hope that you take away from this perspective right that all of you have the small L you got to make it a big L that requires skill building
6:59 practice education having mentors all those elements that that allow you to become mate as a leader and experiences yeah so learning experiences are incredibly uh important even if you want to grow within an organization take the types of jobs that maximizes your learning uh over time uh you will end up in a position to take over and lead in some capacity but you always will start small necessarily but so uh the education is important a program like this is invaluable in my mind because we're actually um giving you the blueprint yes yes so I think we've done the the the deed we have busted finally
7:46 the myth about uh leaders being born we feel that leaders are made we feel we know not sorry not feel we know we know that leaders are made and um your job your call should be to make this a practice make this something that you invest in you deliberately invest in you deliberately acquire the experiences you deliberately acquire the education and you deliberately acquire the mentors that are going to actually help you make uh become better leaders too and can you say a little bit more about mentorship like how how how can I learn to be leader from other leaders mentorship is so important because on the one hand you get feedback you get coaching you get ideas and a great way to use mentors um
8:34 it could even be peer mentors right those who have a little bit more experienced than you is to seek advice to get counsel I do that all the time with you right when I say when I say hey what do you think of this uh what should I do and you say please have them think of it this way and it really expands my per my perspective and so seeking advice SE seeking counsel seeking opportunities whether it's volunteering if you're able uh or not um uh if you can even get a small job and so uh mentors can be very helpful in that way and ultimately you have to be coachable oh say more seeking mentors if and if you're not coachable
9:21 is not going to work tell tell me more coachability is a fundamental skill that's really important that is to learn to listen to learn to follow advice to learn to suspend your own judgment even if you disagree she tells me that all the time stop K stop stop your judgmental stuff just listen just listen listen and learn before you take action being coachable will make you a fantastic leader because not only will you learn and be influenced but guess what you'll know how to coach others all right so there you are leaders are made and we hope you're on the journey to becoming a leader
