What makes someone a leader?

What makes someone a leader?

 

Have you stopped and thought "What makes someone a leader?" Look around and you see people in leadership roles but what is it about them that makes them a leader? What differentiates them from other people? From you?

In the introduction to the textbook being used in my leadership class, Leadership: Theory and Practice, the author Peter Northouse mentions that "bookstore shelves are filled with popular books about leaders and advice on how to be a leader." (p. 1) Obviously people are asking the same question that I have named this week's post: what makes a good leader? Maybe being even more specific, they may be asking what would make them a better leader?  In his textbook, Northouse covers eleven different approaches to leadership. Yes, you read that correct - eleven. Did it ever occur to you that there may be that many different thoughts on what makes someone a leader? I hadn't but now that I am aware of the different approaches I am looking forward to learning about them.


This past week in my leadership class, we studied two different approaches to what makes someone a leader - the trait approach and the skill approach.  The trait approach suggests that there are characteristics (traits) that people are born with that makes them good leaders. The skills approach suggests that a person can learn the skills to make themselves a leader. Two very different thoughts on what makes someone a leader. Can it really be that cut and dry? You are either born with the traits or you can learn the skills. I think what it takes to be a leader is more complex.

 A significant amount of research has been done to determine what specific traits separate leaders from followers. The research has yielded lists of traits but the top five are: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability. Okay, so those are traits a person can be born with but couldn't a person also learn and adopt those same things as skills? Maybe you cannot increase intelligence but you can increase your knowledge in a subject. A person can learn to be more self-confident, more determined, and more social. Think about all of those books on the bookstore shelves. The Oxford dictionary offers the following as one of many definitions for integrity, "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles." Can someone decide that they want to be more honest, more moral? Wouldn't this make integrity a learned skill as well as a trait?

The traits approach and the skills approach both take a leader-centered approach to leadership. The traits approach emphasizes the personality characteristics of the leader and the skills approach emphasizes the leader's capabilities. (p. 71) In order to be a leader, wouldn't you need followers? Would it seem logical that the followers would have some sort of influence on the way a leader leads?

In the weeks to come, I will be learning about nine additional leadership approaches or styles. I look forward to learning about each and looking at different individuals that most people think of as leaders and seeing if I can determine what makes them a leader and what type of leader are they.

How about you, the reader? What are your thoughts on what makes someone a leader? What makes someone a good leader? What type of leader would you follow? I invite you to join me on this journey to learn more about the different types of leaders and identify men and women that have been called leaders and determine what style of leadership they have. 

Below are 7 different leaders, past and present, and the leadership style associated with each. Do you agree?

Thanks for reading my blog and I would really like to read comments about what you think.  Until next time, have a great week!

References

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Oxford Dictionary. Retrieved from: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/integrity