A debate that plagued mankind for generations! Can leaders be made or are they born? Truth be told, it’s a question that plagues not only the upper echelons of corporate world but also the political fraternity.
And perhaps it is as much a seed of our feudal devotion and servile mindset as it is of common understanding. How else can we explain dynasty of politics? Right from the days of kings and queens to our present generation of political leaders it carries the same story. The Mughal’s, the Rajput’s, the Nizam’s to the Royal families of England, Jordan, Japan et al to the Kennedys, Bush, Roosevelt’s, Taft’s of US, the Dys of Philipines and our very own Gandhi’s.
Why does the venerated “Leadership Institutes” that our corporate bell-weathers have, fail to create a great line of successors? Why does Britain still talks of Sir Winston Churchill as an epitome of leadership?
Is there a secret formula to make leaders and churn them out of a “school”. Crack the formula and become a millionaire!!!
-- By Sayan Ghosh
It comes back to the same point that I made in blog. "Leadership can only be learned through experience and can not be taught". I think politicians' and royals' kids are exposed, from a very small age, to things which a common person is not. It shapes up their thoughts and actions. But if we see carefully not all politicians or royals have their successors doing great, otherwise we would still be living under the Mugal era.
ReplyDeleteThe so called 'Leadership institutes" create managers because they are needed in bulk. Again, "Leadership can not be taught". Its a man's will to create differentiation and hence can only be acquired through a process called life. The politician and Royal families provide that catalyst, but they are not the alchemists for leaders.
Nice post Sayan. This debate is well... a never ending debate. And here are my two cents adding to the confusion.
ReplyDeleteDifferent days, different strokes.
A leader one day can be a miserable loser the other day under different circumstances.
In my view it's more about whether you have a drive to do something in a given situation, that makes you a leader.
So leaders EMERGE, based on their ideologies and vision. Also, the individual should be at the right place at the right time to emerge as a leader.
Short and crisp! Wonderfully written.
ReplyDelete'as much a seed of our feudal devotion and servile mindset as it is of common understanding' ... nice one there ... people have become used to being led so much that they forget that they themselves can lead too ... the herd mentality so to speak ...
ReplyDelete@Sayan: Nice blog.
ReplyDelete@Harish: Well said, I totally agree with you.
I wonder why people are so obsessed with "teaching" leadership. Have we reached a stage where we only think of classrooms when it comes to teaching? Can't a mentor teach you certain things? And believe it or not, a mentor goes a long way for your success. A mentor, as we understand, guides you and felicitates you. But at the same time he makes you aware about certain past works (what we now call a theory), in a subtle way.
I personally feel leadership is completely situational. As Harish said, leaders emerge in different situations. Each one of has some amount of leadership within us, and some people / situations helps us to explore the same.
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ReplyDelete