Leadership is Natural Born Nothing

Would you consider yourself a leader? If the answer is yes, then how are you leading? If the answer is no, what is stopping you?

Growing up, many are told that they are natural born leaders. I was one of those people. I was often told by my parents and those above me that I had great leadership potential. That I was destined to lead. This certainly inspired me to step into some amazing roles over the years.

However, this has caused me to wonder, what about the people who aren’t told they are “natural” born leaders? I am a loud, outgoing girl with courage to speak her mind, but what about the soft-spoken introvert? Is he a leader? Not only that, but am I a natural born leader? I certainly do not possess all attributes of a leader. I can lack open-mindedness or delegation skills.

Is there such a thing as a natural born leader, and can you still lead even if you are not that person?

The short answer is yes, and yes. There are many attributes that describe a leader, and you might happen to have several of them. But there are two things I want you to hear:

Having the gifts of a leader does not make you a leader, and just because you don’t stand out as a natural born leader does not mean you can’t be one.

In Ryan Hartwig’s eBook, Burst: Bursting the Bubbles of 5 Teamwork Myths, an idea that points toward leadership being an influence toward goals is, “Only behavior that leads is called leadership” (Hartwig, 2012, p. 26). You see, you are not deemed a leader unless you are actually leading! And in the same way you aren’t a leader without leading, you do not have to be deemed a leader at birth in order to lead.

Not only do some leadership traits go unseen (such as empathy, gratitude, and integrity), but some leaders go unseen. What many don’t realize is that a group can be full of leaders. You can be a leader of a group without telling people what to do and calling all the shots. According to Creating Effective Teams: A Guide for Members and Leaders by Susan A. Wheelan, “all group members share responsibility for creating an effective team… Group success or failure is the result of many mutual influences” (Wheelan, 2016, p. 71).

I don’t care if you are NEVER told that you have leadership potential. Anyone can learn the ways of effective leadership and lead effectively. More importantly, we can stop thinking that leadership always looks like one man leading a crowd of followers. Sometimes it looks like you empathizing with a member of a group. Other times it looks like you knowing yourself enough to back down from a task.

Figure out what skills you’ve had all along and work hard to develop the skills you haven’t. And remember that no one is a leader until they choose to lead.