...Great Leaders: Are they Born or Made? 1 Henry Kissinger once said that "The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been." No one can deny that the act being a leader is an enormous job and that the best and worst leaders are remembered throughout history. What no one has determined thus far is if leaders are born or made. True leaders might have natural abilities that lend themselves to taking charge over people, but some leaders are born out of necessity; they see a situation and take control over it. The Great Trait website discusses the idea that there is a leadership trait that determines a future leader. This view is countered in Daniel Maltby’s article, “The State of Leadership Theory and Training Today”, where he suggests that leaders are developed, not born. Even Colin Powell agrees with this view. Francis Yammarino sees no point in discerning whether a leader is born or made, and John Gardner is more concerned with the unrealistic expectations for the leader once in charge. Therefore, a leader is made, not born, because with the right opportunities and training, anyone can become a leader. In ancient times, leaders were, in fact, born to the position. Leaders such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar were born into families who demanded that they would one day lead a nation. Others are born with the qualities necessary to become a great leader. Determining whether or not a leader is effective is the more difficult...
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...Throughout history, many great leaders around the world have in one way or another made significant impacts on our day-to-day lives. ‘Mahatma’ (Sanskrit word meaning great soul) Gandhi who always led by example was one of these great personalities. He was a great leader to his people and his life became a message to the world. The message he brought was truth, freedom and non-violence. This paper will examine how Mahatma Gandhi’s effective leadership helped India get its independence through non-violence. One of the ways Mahatma Gandhi was able to be such an effective leader was his ability and determination to stand against injustice and racial discrimination. Gandhi witnesses his first experience of racial discrimination while traveling by train to Johannesburg, South Africa. Though he carried a first class ticket, he was ordered to move to the “colored” cars in the back by the officers. He refused to accept their demands which resulted in him being thrown out of the train. As a result, he had to spend a long and freezing night at the train station. It was through witnessing firsthand the racism and injustice against Indian people in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status within the British Empire, and his own place in the society. This gave him a cause to fight for in his quest to end discrimination and inequality, which would eventually lead to a free India. At age 45, he moved back to India and he dedicated himself to organizing peaceful rallies...
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...A Great Leader Brittany Woods Bethel University Leadership August 28, 2014 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was a prominent political leader in the Indian Independence struggle. Gandhi is my definition of a great leader. The Gandhian ideology or doctrine of non-violence inspired many great leaders including Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama. In India, Gandhi photo is on all paper currency. October 2 is celebrated as a holiday in India, is the day he was born. To be a great leader there are 10 qualities, I feel you should need to be successful. Ambition, patience, humility, humor, vision, compliance, tolerance, courage, accountability and gratitude are the main 10 qualities a great leader should have. Gandhi was boldly driven forward, passionately rising to new heights, clearing a path for those who follow. Gandhi was able to vision the future and articulates, in crystal clear language, a strategic plan to get everyone on board. Gandhi knew how to play by the rules in order to build respect and sustainability. Gandhi knew that people are individuals who thrive best when allowed to choose their own approach to risk and happiness. He blazed an aisle in the aphotic and afford their own light, admitting alive that alarm lurks about corners. He took abounding accountability if there were problems of area mistakes were fabricated or whose achievement was substandard. Gandhi approved acknowledgment audibly and generally...
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...Charles V was a great leader and a well-known King. When Emperor Charles V passed away, his son King Philip II inherited the multi-cultural empire which includes Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily. King Philip II was known as to govern the world largest empire. King Philip promise his father he will always serve God, trust few and look after his people. King Philip II was a leader and his faith was strong as he served God. He wanted everyone to be a Catholic and saved from the protestant heretics or the rebellion. He believed it was his duty to save as many lives as possible. Every decision King Philip II made was for God. In a way, he saw himself as a Guardian Angel for the Christians. He banned the study of abroad. Philip gave money and...
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...What characteristics make up a great leader? Well, leaders exhibit characteristics in which were shown by these exemplary leaders , such as Suleiman and Nelson Mandala. Being well educated , courageous and just being a person who really cares for the people of their territory are just few components of what it takes to be a meritorious leader. “Suleiman, an aggressive military leader, was feared but also admired by people in other lands”- Jane Simmons. Suleiman was a great Ottoman Sultan of the 16th century. He was an incredible leader who brought the Ottoman Empire to the pinnacle of its power. During this time, Suleiman was not only a great conqueror, but also a fair leader, a brilliant lawmaker, and a supporter of the arts. In my opinion, Suleiman was truly magnificent and played a very important role in the success. “Due to his brilliant plan, by attacking the Hungarian from an sides he was able to win the war”. Being a wise and intelligent person is what aided Suleiman’s warrior conquer the massive war in the city of Europe. Nelson Mandela was an amazing leader because of his dedication, inspiration, and his vision of change. He was one of the leaders to put an end to segregation/apartheid rule of Africa and the first black president of the country. “Mandela was an international symbol of the injustice of apartheid”- Matt Darvil. As president, his main goal was to unify Africa. He made sure that everyone clearly knew and understood his goal of equality, and took...
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...Temujin, was the son of a leader of a Mongolian tribe. He was brought up in a time of warring tribes and factions. Genghis Khan was a fierce and brilliant military commander, who achieved unprecedented success in setting Ghengis Khanup an Empire which stretched across Europe and Asia. His Mongol armies left a trail of fear, death and destruction. But, he also created a vibrant empire with a common language, booming trade, tolerance of religion and some basic customs and laws( Pettinger., 2010). Arguably the most famous Asian of the last 2,000 years, Genghis Khan created an empire that was more than twice the size of any other conqueror's in history, and that endured for more than a century and a half after his death. Almost everything we know about him came from the descendants of people he conquered, and they have seen him as merely one of many bloodthirsty savages -- such as Attila the Hun and Tamerlane -- who periodically erupted from the steppes like some evil force of nature to ravage the superior civilizations around them(Weatherford, 2000). Although Genghis Khan was a great conqueror, he never stopped becoming open to new cultures and he was very open to learn from the technologies, practices and even religions of the different territories he conquered. A great leader never stops learning and it is the key to your success too. You must be humble enough to realize that you can learn from anyone, anywhere no matter how far you have come as a leader, there is always something...
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...The Target Stores are very successful National Corporation in the United States. Target is an American retailing company that has its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second largest retail store in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart. Target is also ranks 33rd on the Fortune 500 as of 2010. The company was founded in 1902 in Minneapolis as the Dayton Dry Goods Company. Target grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation. It was then renamed as Target Corporation in August 2000. While working for the Dayton Company, John F. Geisse developed the concept of upscale discount retailing, and became the founder of Target from concept to large discount chain. On May 1, 1962 the Dayton Company opened its first Target discount store at 1515 West County Road B in the Saint Paul suburb of Roseville, Minnesota. Target Stores lost money in its initial years, but reported its first gain in 1965, with sales reaching $39 million, allowing a fifth store to open in Minneapolis. Many stores take many years, and even decades before they can see enough of a profit to allow them to expand their store to more locations. Target Stores then expanded outside of Minneapolis by opening two stores in Denver, Colorado and sales there exceeded $60 million. Then in 1967, the Dayton Corporation was established and went public with its first offering of common stock, and opened two additional Target stores in Minnesota which resulted in a total of nine units. Throughout...
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...“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams said that to be a leader you must inspire other to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. Since my freshmen year I have been inspired to do all of those mentioned in the quote, by previous squad leaders; without them I would not be the marcher and person that I am today nor would I even be in marching band. I know I would make a great squad leader because I would do the same as my previous squad leaders if not better than the previous, to make sure the underclassmen feel that they have a person who can make them feel like they can vent to us or come to us when they need help with any issues they are having at the...
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...In the past, marvelous rulers had knowledge of what happened to their neighbors. Ken Kesey said, “You do not lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” He meant great leader faced challenges by going to an unknown place with a helping hand. It was more beneficial for a ruler to traveled everywhere and get the news of what is happening. If he did that, people from foreign countries are more likely to support him during the times; he gets himself in a sticky situation as allies. If the rulers chose not to learn about foreign countries, foreign countries would feel skeptical when he asked for support. Foreigners were more likely to trade with the great rulers, well not him exactly...
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...In the past there have been great leaders both men and women. It has been argued that ‘leaders are made not born’. Do you agree? The issue of leadership influenced by nature or nurture has been a debatable issue from the past years. Some people believe that leadership comes from inherited genes and others believe it is from environmental influence. This essay will argue that leaders are made because of education, experience and mentorship. However, to a lesser extend nature also plays a role because some people inherit leadership genes and intelligence from parents which drives them to be great leaders. Therefore nurture has more impact on leadership than nature. Firstly, education plays an important role in the development of leaders. Education is influenced by nurture. Owen, Hodgson and Gazzard(2004) believes that, “Our view that leadership may be influenced by genes but leadership is more greatly influenced by many other factors and our potential for leadership is not related to genes” (p.20). The quotation shows that leaders are made through various factors but not inheritance. This means that education and learning as one of the factors is an important tool used for leadership success. Other people are born with natural intelligence but they lack knowledge and might not succeed because of illiteracy. Corderman(2006) suggests that, “Thus effective leadership necessarily involves some degree of acquired learning-in most cases, a very substantial degree” (p.13). ...
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...Pastor Shayne Michael Daughenbaugh Introduction to Youth Ministry May 1, 2014 YOUTH MINISTRY FINAL Many might ask, why is youth ministry important in the church? The answer to this question is very easy, and it is because youth are the leaders, makers, and team members of the future. They are energetic, mature and smart enough to help with a lot of things like, setting up for church, spreading the word of God to the community. It is also necessary because it helps to have important relationships between youth and the youth workers; and youth to youth themselves, it makes great friendships. Going back to the given scenario, of just moving to a new church and want get involved in their YM. When I first get there I have to first learn how things work there. Get to know the people that are already working with the youth if there is any and get to know the youth in the church. As I am observing how things work I need to be asking be keeping my self in check by regularly checking my motives and my heart. Making sure that on my side everything is good with my spiritual life and also I am in good terms with my family. After making sure that I am set and God has given me the go ahead sign. Then I will go and suggest some ideas to the youth leaders that are already trying to pursue the job. Now lets say this church is a Tanzanian church. I am more that 90% sure that there is no church out there that is doing youth ministry that has to do with relational ministry. I know this is the...
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... I admire the organizational leadership within the company that I am employed. I want to highlight on the last five years of Montana-Dakota Utilities before getting into detail about specific styles of leadership that I agree with. The company in the last 5 years has went through several major changes that displayed the importance of leadership. We have purchased other companies which eventually went through merger to be more streamlined. We have changed Presidents and Executive officials. All these changes have been completed with minimal loss and structure change. We have some very important statements that our leaders follow by. We are four brands that have become one utility. With Integrity, create superior shareholder value by expanding upon our existing expertise to be the supplier of choice in all of our markets while being a safe and great place to work. While utilizing existing expertise, safely provide value added products and services that exceed customer expectations. There is a lot of positive direction in those two statements. Our leadership is driven to provide the best and safest products that we can. When the company first started its merger in 2008, there were several changes announced in a short period of time. Some of these changes were people losing their jobs and others were department restructuring. The people involved in either change had some important movements coming their way. The company was merging over an eight state area, making the...
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...it is also a more underlying charisma that is a motivating factor for those who follow a leader on a deep personal and emotional level. The ability to lead is an enviable skill that some are born with and some acquire and fine tune through the span of a life time. Simply because a persona is a leader, does that make them a worthy manager? What really identifies a person as a leader? There is an overwhelming amount of information available on the topic of leadership. Although leadership is a learnable skill, it takes practice to continue learning and growing in one’s role. Leaders can have both a positive and negative impact on those who are following, “an implicit lesson for leaders is the value of being conscious of what influence tactics one uses and what effects are typically associated with each tactic. … Leaders should pay attention not only to the actual influence tactics they use but also to why they believe such method is called for.” (Hughes, Richard, & Curphy, 2012) The influence that a leader can have on another is that of power. It is the potential to influence the behaviors used by one person to modify the attitudes, behaviors and possibly even beliefs of another. Being a leader sometimes requires one to step up and be courageous in making decisions, “leaders face dilemmas that require choices between competing sets of values and priorities and the best leaders recognize and face them with a commitment to doing what is right, not just what is expedient...
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...fundamental principles of a good society that influence the decisions it’s leaders make. Philosophers have written about their best ideas for their time of history, and as the times changed, ideas changed. Plato, one of the first to capture this idea, believed that a ruler should live in a way where everything he says and does is in agreement with the goal he claims to want to reach. This goal should be for the good of the people. Aristotle went further to state that virtue and justice should describe a community. If there is found a man so great in wisdom and virtue to surpass all, then he should rule, thus assisting the community in the good life. Rousseau tried to find the way to defend the public and protect the civil liberties of the people. Kant offered his thoughts in saying that leaders should protect and support their people by giving them freedom to reason. And finally, Madison claimed that a state should be dedicated to the betterment of society by having leaders who always push the most important interests of a society. The components of ideal leadership are equally as important. Some elements of ideal leaders, according to scholars, include love, courage, temperance, humility, graciousness, mercy, and peacemaking. Washington, King David, and Young all portrayed these qualities of ideal leadership. Aquinas encouraged leaders to govern for the security of the common good, whereas Machiavelli said leaders should work to secure their power and good. The common idea is that...
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...For many years, leadership has been acknowledged as a key factor to success and leaders have been relied upon to lead man kind to a brighter future and a better life Northouse, P. G. (2012) . Lately it started to attract people’s attention for it’s critical role in success whether it be in business ,politics or life as a whole . People want to know what made leaders and how to develop the ability to lead ,they want to learn about what it takes to be a leader. Marturano, A., & Gosling, J. (Eds.). (2007). The perception of “Leadership” evolved with man as the years progressed and as the needs , the culture and the social environment changed ,the term was defined differently by many researchers , each conceptualizing...
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