The Making of Leaders

1
|
MTL: The Professional Development Programme
The Making of Leaders
THE MAKING OF
LEADERS
How ordinary people become our leaders

2
|
Attribution: All images are from sources where a Creative Commons license exists for commercial use. All icons are on subscription
from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train
Learn.
The Making of
Leaders
Introduction: There is a mystery about how leaders become leaders. Some people
are born with all the right qualifications but don’t make it. Others are born into very
lowly positions and rise to the top. It is hard not to conclude that there is no simple,
one-size-fits-all path to leadership, but that leadership depends on a complex and
mysterious mix of variables. In this topic, we’ll show you 7 of those variables.

3
|
1. TRAITS
Most people agree that their leaders should
demonstrate certain traits. It’s just that not
everyone can agree what they should be. For
example, when a symposium of corporate heads
were asked for their top 10 leadership qualities,
they suggested tenacity, passion, persuasiveness
and confidence, but didn’t mention the one
quality of leadership that Walt Disney prized
above all others, courage.
TheTraits of FDR: F D Roosevelt was the four-times
president of the United States serving from 1933 to
1945. Dennis Ferguson says he had 3 exceptional
traits: he was a great communicator; he had the
ability to surround himself with people more capable
than himself; and, because of his polio, he understood
hardship.
A man who understood hardship
Flickr attribution: /donkeyhotey/5366934923/

4
|
Leadership Traits
In his book "Leadership", John Adair argues that it is
the juxtaposition of certain traits that produces
leadership ability. These traits include: courage;
integrity; enthusiasm; warmth; calmness;
toughness; and fairness.
The idea that leaders become leaders because they have certain
inborn qualities that others don't have can be traced back to the
assertion by Thomas Carlyle in 1849 that “the history of the world is
the biography of great men”. This gave rise to the idea that leaders
were born, not made, a theory that held sway for over 100 years.
Are traditional leadership traits biased against
women? As of July 2013, there were only 19 female
elected presidents and prime ministers in power
around the globe. In the business world, women
currently hold only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO
positions.
What determines
whether we become
leaders or not are the
drives inside us, our
experiences and
training, and the
circumstances in which
we find ourselves that
necessitate the call to
leadership. But the
traits still have to come
through.
Because leadership traits are
in all of us, we all have the
potential to become leaders.
Forbes Magazine
says that the top
leadership trait is
"self-management",
ie the ability to
prioritize your goals
and accomplish
them.

5
|
JJ DID TIE BUCKLE
The United States Marine Corps is one of the most prestigious
units of the American Armed Forces. Its most notable
achievements were in the Pacific theatre of World War II. One
of the reasons for its high standing is its focus on leadership
training and its adoption of 14 leadership traits that, for those
who have been through the Marine Corps, will always be
known by the acronym, JJ DID TIE BUCKLE.
J Justice Be fair
J Judgment
Good decisions and
common sense
D Dependability Be there for others
I Initiative
See what needs done and
doing it
D Decisiveness Quick and timeous action
I Integrity Live according to values
E Enthusiasm The can-do attitude
B Bearing How you conduct yourself
U Unselfishness Put others first
T Tact Work without conflict
C Courage
Take responsibility in the
face of danger
K Knowledge The skills of doing the job
L Loyalty
Respect and care for those
above and below
E Endurance Keep going

6
|
ABalance of Male and Female Traits
Venus, The
Symbol Of
Feminine Traits
Examples:
Empathy;Vulnerability;
Humility; Inclusiveness;
Generosity; Balance;
Patience.
Mars, The
Symbol Of
Masculine Traits
Examples:
Technical Competence;
Track Record; Conceptual
Skills; Decisiveness
Earth, The Ideal
Balance
Example:
Judgment
Writer Leigh Buchanan says that most leadership traits today can be divided into typically male and typically
female traits. These have sometimes also been called "hard" traits and "soft" traits. Typically male traits are
decisiveness and resilience; typically female traits are tact and diplomacy. Although Buchanan argues that female
traits are more needed by today's leaders than male traits, what is also recognised is the need to balance both.
"The ideal leader should be like the earth itself: positioned between Mars and Venus."

7
|
2.
LEADERSHIP
DRIVES
David McClelland says that, to be a successful
leader, you need the drive for power. Even with
all the qualities and traits in the world, if your
main drive at work is for affinity or achievement,
rather than power, you won’t make it to the top.
You will be a great team member or create great
products, but you won’t get people to follow
you. To be an effective leader, you actually have
to passionately want to be in charge of others.
You have to want the power to change things
Flickr attribution: /soldiersmediacenter/5416274148/

8
|
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4.
Expert
power, based
on highly-
regarded
skills
3.
Reward
power, based
on giving or
withholding
2.
Coercive
power, based
on force
1.
Legitimate
power, based
on status and
title
The 7 Kinds of Organisational Power
7.
Referent
power, based
on
relationships
and values
6.
Connections
power, based
on who you
know
5.
Information
power, based
on
knowledge
Power
How much influence a leader can exert over others depends on the type of power that he or she can wield and
how important this is perceived to be by the leader's followers. One of the best-known studies on power was
conducted by psychologists John French and Bertram Raven, in 1959. They identified five types of power which
they increased later to seven. Since their study, the ability of leaders to use some of these powers has
significantly decreased in favour of others.

9
|
3. MADE OR
BORN?
There is an unresolved debate about whether
leaders are born or made. Some people argue
that birth into certain environments pre-destines
some of us to be leaders. Others argue that
merely being first-born creates leadership
qualities of its own. All the following were first-
born: Winston Churchill, William the Conqueror,
George Washington, Alexander the Great, Joan
of Arc, F. D. Roosevelt.
Never stop learning
Flickr attribution: /danacvoss/6356255965/

10
|
Made or Born?: Pick the 2 Leaders Not First-Born
Adolf Hitler 1 F D Roosevelt 1 Alexander the
Great
1 Joan of Arc 1
George
Washington
1
Oprah
Winfrey 1
William the
Conqueror
1
Florence
Nightingale
1 Winston
Churchill
1 Benjamin
Disraeli
1
There is an unresolved debate about whether leaders are made or born. Some argue that leaders are those who
display leadership skills and that, like any other skill, these can be taught and practised. Another case is made out
for those whose birth circumstances pre-destined them to be leaders. This is argued to be particularly true for
first-borns. To test this theory, select the 2 leaders below who were NOT first-born.
All images from Wikipedia

11
|
Made or Born?: TheAnswers
The two leaders not first-born are Adolf Hitler and Florence Nightingale.
Adolf Hitler was the fourth child of his parents but his 3 elder brothers all died in infancy.
Florence Nightingale had an elder sister and was born in 1820 in Florence taking her name from the place of
her birth.
Adolf Hitler 1 F D Roosevelt 1 Alexander the
Great
1 Joan of Arc 1
George
Washington
1
Oprah
Winfrey 1
William the
Conqueror
1
Florence
Nightingale
2 Winston
Churchill
1 Benjamin
Disraeli
1
All images from Wikipedia

12
|
4. EDUCATION
AND
EXPERIENCES
When leaders of business are asked what
influenced them most to become leaders, many
recall traumatic events in their childhood. Others
took a more normal path by attending the most
prestigious business schools. On the other hand,
education may only have a limited role in
creating leaders. Of the top 10 business leaders
in the USA, only 2 – Jack Welch of GEC and Lou
Gerstner of IBM – had business degrees.
There are no “O” levels in leadership
Flickr attribution: /tamaiyuya/15810989809/

13
|
Does Education Matter in LeadershipAbility?
In their book, "Lessons from the Top", Thomas Neff and James Citrin look at the educational backgrounds of 10 of
the top leaders in US business. They show that only 2 out of the 10 held MBAs or business degrees. The rest
obtained degrees but not in business. Famously, of course, the 3 giants of the digital age, Mark Zuckerberg of
Facebook, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Bill Gates of Microsoft all dropped out of their college courses.
Gates attended Harvard in
the fall of 1973, only to drop
out two years later to found
Microsoft with childhood
friend Paul Allen.
Bill Gates
At the age of 21, Jobs
dropped out of college
after one semester and
recycled cans and bottles
to make ends meet.
Steve Jobs
Zuckerberg went to
Harvard in 2003 to study
psychology and computer
science but dropped out in
his sophomore (second)
year.
Mark Zuckerberg

14
|
5. EXPERIENCE
OR
COMPETENCE?
Nobody wants a leader who doesn’t know what
they’re doing. However, as Professor Fred Fiedler
has discovered, experience and competence
serve leaders in different ways. Fiedler found
that, in high-stress situations, leaders call upon
experience before competence. In low-stress
situations, it’s the other way round, with
intelligence being more valuable than
experience.
The ideal leader knows enough and has a track record
Flickr attribution: /dellphotos/11354481084/

15
|
Leadership Requires Competence Under Pressure
In high-pressure situations, eg
deadlines and the heat of battle,
experience is more valuable to
leaders than innate intelligence
In low-pressure situations, ie when
you have time to think, innate
intelligence is more valuable to
leaders than experience
Most people acknowledge that their
leaders should be competent. The stories
of incompetent generals in wars from the
Crimean War to the First World War
provide evidence that some basic skills
and knowledge of events are essential in
leading others. Competence can come
from two sources: experience and innate
intelligence. Professor Fred Fiedler has
studied the respective merits of
experience and innate intelligence in
leaders. His conclusion is that...

16
|
6. A MOMENT
ARRIVES
History shows us again and again that certain
people come to the fore when the circumstances
are right. Often these are people who were failed
leaders, voices in the wilderness, or discarded
men and women, like the Churchill of 1940.
Somehow, a moment arrives when the
circumstances and the qualities of the individual
seem made for each other.
MalalaYousafzai, ( born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani
activist for female education. She was nearly killed in
October 2012 when aTaliban gunman entered her
school bus and fired three shots into her face. She
recovered and took her views onto an international
stage. In 2014, she became the youngest-ever
recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
When the time is right, the leader appears
Flickr attribution: /southbankcentre/13008430294/

17
|
Great LeadersAre Made
for the Situation
History shows us again and again that certain
people come to the fore when the time is right and
they are needed. Often these are people who were
failed leaders, voices in the wilderness or discarded
men and women, such as the Winston Churchill of
1940 (see picture right).
Somehow a moment arrives when the
circumstances and the individual seem made for
each other. In organisational terms, these critical
moments may be when the company faces change,
when the present leader's style is no longer right,
when there is a threat from outside, or when
people need inspiration.
One well-known model of how to adapt your
leadership style to stay in tune with your followers
is Fred Fiedler's Contingency Model. In this model,
Fiedler suggests that a leader always has to decide
where to focus his or her efforts; at one end, on
the task, at the other, on the team.

18
|
7. FOLLOW
YOUR
LEADER
One last variable in the leadership mix is the
willingness of people to follow their leader. Soren
Oberg calls this a leader’s charismatic power. It
has little to do with traditional power and more
to do with their visibility, their attractiveness,
and their ability to empathize with the needs of
their followers. A feature of this kind of power is
the ability to talk to people in symbolic terms.
No followers, no leader
Flickr attribution: /mdgovpics/7196524964/

19
|
4. Honesty
Become good at giving
the boss honest feedback
3. Loyalty
Have a strong
allegiance to what the
organisation is doing
7. Control your ego
It’s not about you; it’s about
the team
6. Discretion
Keep your mouth shut.
“What you hear here,
stays here”
2. Do the work:
There is no such thing
as a poor worker who is
a good follower
Be a Good Follower
No leader can be successful without good followers but
good followers are not inevitable just because you are the
leader. John McCallum of the University of Manitoba says
there are 7 skills needed to be a good follower and it is as
important in the making of leaders for them to develop
these skills in their followers as it is for them to develop
them in themselves.
1. Judgment:
Be willing to see when
the boss is wrong and
tell them
5. Courage
Have courage to confront
a leader who’s lost their
way

20
|
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
Trying to analyse leadership is a bit like dismantling a Stradivarius violin to see where its essence
comes from. You spoil its beauty and are none the wiser. As John McGregor said: “Leadership is
not a property of the individual but a complex relationship among all the variables.”

The Making of Leaders

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to The Making of Leaders

Similar to The Making of Leaders (20)

More from Manage Train Learn

More from Manage Train Learn (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The Making of Leaders

Editor's Notes