Leaders: Wonderful species who can be made

There have been leaders in various spheres, since the origin of mankind. It was the leaders who created the history of the world, because of their actions, words and particularly vision to turn a new leaf in the world’s history. In other words, leaders always do something different and new. The world is always suffering from the lack of leaders. It is not wrong to say that the life of a leader is more important and valuable than 100s of lives of followers, as it is the leader who mobilizes people and organises them so as to achieve the objectives. 

The question that had no proper answers for years has been whether the leaders are made or born. In other words, the leadership is an innate, instinctive quality that you do or don’t have. Fortunately, the world has moved on from this idea and now, people learn more about what they can do to develop leadership qualities within themselves. It is important to identify the leadership in order to be a leader. 
Leadership is the art of getting something done by someone else. Leaders are people who do the right thing. They help themselves and others to do the right things at the right time. They set direction, build an inspiring vision and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to ‘win’ as a team or an organisation and it is dynamic, exciting and inspiring. While leaders set the direction, they must also use some skills to guide their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way.

Leaders are not born, but made. It constantly can be seen that a specific issue whereby others are hurt, creates leaders. For instance, almost every leader who emerged among others, presented solutions to a particular issue which can be economic, political or social. Hence, it is of the essence to get a feeling on the leadership qualities that ought to be really responsible for making leaders. There are many leadership skills and competencies that, when combined and applied, go towards making you an effective leader. You have the ability to develop each of these skills within yourself. 

Self-confidence
Self-confidence is built by mastering significant skills and situations and by knowing that you can add a real value to the work you do. One of the best ways to improve your confidence is to become aware of all of the things you’ve already achieved. On the other hand, if you are suspicious of achieving an objective, you can never prevent your team members from knowing the mentality. 

Positive attitude and outlook
A positive mindset is also associated with strong leadership skills. However, being positive is much more than presenting a happy face to the world; it is about convincing others that it is possible. You need to develop a strong sense of balance and recognize that setbacks and problems happen, so that you will be able to overcome challenges by making strategies. That is how you deal with those problems that make the difference.

Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your own feelings and others’ so as to manage those emotions for creating strong relationships between the leader and followers. Learning to develop empathy is essential for emotional intelligence.

Far-sighted vision of future
This is an ability to create a robust and compelling vision of the future and to present this vision in a way that inspires the people you lead. There are no two words that followers follow the leader because of his or her vision, which is really different from others’ vision.

Being a good role model
Good leaders always set examples for disciples. They do what they say and say what they do, as actions speak louder than words. These types of leaders are trustworthy and show integrity. They get involved in daily work wherever needed and they stay in touch with what’s happening in his team. Great leaders don’t just sit in their offices and give orders. They demonstrate the actions and values that they expect from the team.

These are some of the qualities leaders show. The mixture of these qualities can make a strong leader. Nevertheless, it can be, although rare, seen that some leaders fail at some cases. It doesn’t take much time to destroy the trust placed on the leader by his followers. It means that even leaders don’t win at every moment. The leaders are the leaders, as long as they are careful to keep leadership qualities alive. Leaders must learn something new at every second. They ought to be experts in their sphere, while having even general knowledge on other related areas. 

Expert power is essential because as a leader, your team looks to you for direction and guidance. Team members need to believe in your ability to set a worthwhile direction, give sound guidance and co-ordinate a good result. If your team perceives you as a true expert, they will listen to you when you try to persuade them or inspire them. And if your team sees you as an expert, you will find it much easier to energize and motivate them. Finally, it has to be mentioned in a nutshell that leaders are not born, but can be made, particularly by the opportunity. 

(Amila Muthukutti holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Colombo and can be reached at [email protected])