How Are Leaders Created?

(November  2009)

Are Leaders “Born” or Nurtured in Childhood to be Leaders?

Classically, it was assumed that Leaders were those who were “born to the purple”—Kings who led the nation, Nobles who Led the Armies, or scions of great families who Led the Church.  As Aristotle said, speaking of his student, the great military and political Leader, Alexander the Great: “From the hour of their birth some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.”  Occasionally, the exception proved the rule.  For example, Napoleon.  How could a person of humble birth, a “little corporal”, become an Emperor, if he were not a born Leader?  Likewise, according to Joseph J. Ellis, the portly Boston bookseller Henry Knox and the Quaker Nathaniel Greene turned out to be two of Washington’s best generals in Revolutionary War, because they “displayed their natural talent for leadership”.

This belief that Leaders were born, continued to be accepted, right up to modern times.  For example, Thomas Heggar, writing on WWII Leadership, said of Mr. Roberts “He was a born leader; there is no other kind...The crew worshiped him....They really did.”  Likewise, James Bradley wrote of Sgt Mike Stark of Easy Company who was killed on Iwo Jima; “Everybody idolized Mike.  He was a born leader, a natural leader, a leader by example.

There may be some truth in this belief in natural leaders.

Recent research into childhood development indicates that it is difficult to determine whether the characteristics that people need to help them develop into Leaders are born in their genes or are a result of parental nurturing in childhood.  There seems to be a “culture clash”….

Most researchers who study child development were trained as psychologists and---to overgeneralize, but only a little---are uncomfortable with or even suspicious of genetics.  Geneticists tend to see behavioral research as squishy, not hard science….Almost all [psychologists] were unaware of the studies showing genetics works as a filter between environment and child, letting some influences in and keeping others out. 

Nevertheless, some psychologists have begun to recognize the affects of genes.

I would be hard pressed to name any personality trait that hasn't been found to be inheritable....It would be premature to say there is a leadership gene.  It is almost certainly a cooperative effort among many genes. 

Others have found “…significant genetic associations with traits often tied to leadership.  Among them: dominance, social presence, responsibility, tolerance, achievement via conformity, and flexibility.”  Indeed their research shows that about 35-50% of the characteristics we see as leadership characteristics may come from genes. For example: impressive appearance, energetic, good speaker, empathetic manner. For example:

People often use height, or an inflated appearance of height, to look more powerful, says Lara Tiedens, an organizational behavior professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, who has written extensively about how executives acquire status.

Most recently, research at the Max Plank Institute for Neurological Research in Germany has found that in about 30 percent of children there is a DNA variant that inhibits them from learning by experience, which (as will be seen below) is today regarded as the best way to learn Leadership.  Finally, another study has identified a DNA variant that controls the positive or negative response of a child to parental guidance.     

A number of recent studies have revealed that being born prematurely affects personality.  For example, they found that children born prematurely are more timid, more inhibited, and experience a “spectrum of social and emotional difficulties”.  Also noted was that, the earlier babies are born, the less likely they are to earn a high salary. A large study done by Norwegian scientists and published in July in the journal Science found that the oldest children on average had a slightly higher IQ than their siblings.

But, beyond genes and other affects at birth, it appears that inspiration plus nurturing by family relationships is also important in developing characteristics that help people become Leaders.

If one reads history, it is possible to conclude that some great Leaders are created from having achieving but absent fathers and a strong nurturing mother—Alexander the Great, George Washington, Winston Churchill (nanny), and Douglas Mac Arthur all fit this category.  In terms of American Presidents, John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy also fit this pattern.

If that pattern is true, the recent U.S. election was between two Leaders.  Both Barak H. Obama and John S. McCain had absent, achieving fathers—Obama’s father off to Harvard and then to Kenya for a senior government position and McCain’s father a deployed naval officer rising to 4-star Admiral—and strong nurturing at home—Obama by his Grandmother and McCain by his Mother.

When asked why this pattern might be true, Obama said:

Something’s got to be driving you, and in my case, if you have somebody that is absent, maybe you feel like you’ve got something to prove when you’re young, and that pattern sets itself up over time.  But, also because, again in my case, the stories I heard about my father painted him as larger than life, which also meant that I felt I had something to live up to.

McCain said:

...our fathers, perhaps because of and not in spite of their long absences, can be a huge presence in our lives.  You are taught to consider their absences not as a depravation, but as an honor.  By your father’s calling, you are born into a noble tradition.  Its standards require your father to serve a cause greater than his own self-interest, and everyone around you, your mother, other relatives and the whole Navy world, drafts you to the cause as well.

Perhaps the same may also apply to first-born.

Ben Dattner, a psychology professor at New York University who has studied birth order, says it makes sense that first-born children rise to the top.

They are often more extroverted, confident, assertive, authoritarian, dominant, inflexible, conformist, politically conservative, task-oriented, conscientious, disciplined, defensive about errors, and fearful of losing position and rank.

To check that, Vistage, the largest organization of CEOs, surveyed its membership. Of 1582 responses, 43%  were born first.  USAToday then polled its own panel and found that of 155, 59% were first born.  When asked why this occurred, CEOs cited nurturing factors such as “undivided attention”, “the pressure of greater expectations”, and learning “parental skills in childhood such as offering encouragement and setting limits”.  From that list of traits it is easy to see why one CEO says “Eldest children become leaders, though not necessarily ‘quality’ leaders.  This is because, he noted that they get,

…early training in taking full credit for anything good that happens, and blaming baby brother for anything that goes wrong.  This serves first-born children well as they maneuver up the corporate ladder.

On the other hand, Dr. Jennette Andonian has found that Dr. George Vaillant’s “Grant Study” of one class of Harvard men from graduation until old age clearly showed that “childhood experience [good or bad] although indisputably significant is not as deterministically predictive of adult-life outcomes as many have tended to believe.”

Nevertheless, even today the idea of the “born Leader” persists.  Carnes Lord of the U.S. Naval War College, has written:

It is often said that leaders are born and not made.  There is no doubt of this...it is also a convenient excuse….

In particular it is an excuse for ignoring the central but too often neglected issue of the intellectual (as distinct from the personality-based) requirements for leadership.

Likewise, as CIA looked to new Leadership to begin its recovery after the criticisms of its performance preceding 9/11 and the run up to the Iraq war, Tyler Drumheller said of Steve Kappes the new Deputy Director of Operations; “He is the archetypical manager, a born leader.”  But, was Kappes really a “born” Leader?  Drumheller also points out that he came to CIA from the Marines where he was the “leader” of the famous silent drill team.  

Can Leaders be  Developed by Training?

Long ago Civil War General William Tecumsah Sherman  said, “I have read of men born peculiarly endowed by nature to be a general... but I have never seen one.”

With the advent of WWII, and the rapid promotion of the few career officers to senior positions, the U.S. Army needed many mid-level and junior Leaders.  The only way to get them was to train them.  To help them after training, Colonel Edward L. Munson wrote the manual: Leadership for American Army Leaders.  That book is still in print today and is on the U.S. Marine Corps reading list.  Today the Marine Corps is the foremost organization devoted to developing Leaders by rigorous training.  One of its generals, General Lemuel Shepheard, the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps, said: “I personally believe that the majority of leaders are developed not born.” 

Edgar Pruyear interviewed 20 famous WWII generals.  When he asked how Leaders could be created, he found that “The strongest supporters of the born leader thesis believe that there are certain characteristics that you must be born with, but even those characteristics must be developed.”  One of the generals of that group, Dwight Eisenhower once said “I had occasion, because of my position, to be on the lookout for natural leaders….I noted with satisfaction how well ex-footballers seemed to fulfill the leadership qualifications….[because] football, almost more than any other sport, tends to instill into men that victory comes through hard---almost slavish---work, team play, self confidence, and an enthusiasm that amounts to dedication.” When Pruyear asked Cold War generals he found that they believed “…leaders are not born but developed...[but] there are certain qualities than an individual is born with that are important in leadership development.”  

Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs USA (Ret) speaking to the U.S. Army’s Brigadier General Training Course in November 2000 told them:

...generals like athletes are not born, despite the fact that some are born with a natural ability that gives them more promise than the rest of us.  But all of us need development to progress to the level of competence and character our potential allows....That idea leads to the premise that it is incumbent on each of us to develop these characteristics in ourselves..

More recently, George Buckley, CEO of the 3M Corporation, when asked; “What’s the key to develop leaders?; responded:

There are things you are born with.  You can’t develop intelligence.  You can’t develop morals by law.  I learned my value system at the bottom of my grandmother’s shoe by the age of 7.  I didn’t learn them from a statute book.  [But] There are things that we can develop.  Strategic thinking for example…In the end, maybe you can’t plant leadership in a person, but you certainly can enhance it in a person.

Can Leadership be Learned in Class?

John Gardner who served in the OSS in WWII and went on to cabinet and other leadership positions says: “Many dismiss the subject with the confident assertion that ‘Leaders are born, not made.’ Nonsense! Most of what leaders have that enables them to lead is learned.”  Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus write: “Leadership seems to be the marshalling of skills possessed by the majority but used only by a minority.  But it is something that can be learned by anyone, taught to everyone, denied to no one.”  And, Peter Ducker, the foremost management conceptualizer and consultant has said:  “...there may be ‘born leaders’ but there surely are too few to depend on them….Leadership must be learned and can be learned.”   

Joseph S. Nye who has been an Assistant Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary of State, and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, and Professor and Dean at the Harvard University JFK  School of Government, has recently begun teaching Leadership.  He says, “Almost anyone can become a leader.  Leadership can be learned. It depends on nature as well as nurture.”

But, Thomas E. Cronin, a former White House Fellow, student of Presidential Leadership, academic and College President has written that:

…leaders cannot usually be taught to be leaders. But students, or anyone else for that matter can profitably be exposed to leadership, discussions of leadership skills and styles and leadership strategies and theories.

Bill George, Harvard Management Professor and author of Authentic Leadership and True North told Charlie Rose that Leadership can’t be taught.  He said:

I think you can learn about it.  I think you’ve got to learn about yourself.  It comes from within, from who you are inside and what makes you tick and what are those take playing in your head that tell you about what you want to be and what your limitations are.

Oxford University takes the same approach.  One of the advertising slogans of the “Strategic Leadership Programme” of the business school is “Leadership cannot be taught-but leaders can be educated.”  Stanford University Business School also advertises that it is the place to  “Turn knowledge into leadership.” 

So, How Learned?

While leadership education is not the whole answer, it is a good place to start.  According to General Dwight Eisenhower who has been quoted as saying, “The one quality that can be developed by studious reflections and practice is the leadership of men.”  And likewise, Cronin says that after being exposed to “…discussions of leadership skills and styles and leadership strategies and theories.....You learn it on the job, you learn it from gaining experience, from making mistakes and learning from these.  And you should learn from mentors.”  Consultant Michael Hammer agrees, “In reality, the only way to learn this is by doing it.  You give people the concepts they need, and then they have to invent it for themselves in the field.” 

Professors at the University of California, School of Business Administration  say that “...successful executives aren't born that way but develop with experience.  A father-son pair of Navy Seals also agrees: “Getting your feet wet is the best way to learn how to swim...the key to success---the only key---is to put leadership theory into practice.” Peter Senge told students at the National Defense University that “You learn it in context; by doing it, on the job.  You learn from mistakes.  It is deeply personal, inherently collective.”  

And, Warren Bennis, Professor, consultant and college President that Leadership is learned on the job.  He says “Leadership doesn't come from genes. It doesn't come from reading or listening to lectures. It comes from the hard earned experience in the arena....”

He reiterates:

The most dangerous myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership.  This myth asserts that people simply have charismatic qualities or not.  That's nonsense; in fact the opposite is true.  And the way we become leaders is by learning about leadership through life and job experiences, not university degrees....Leadership is nurtured with on-the-job education and role models.  People learn to be leaders through difficult experiences and when they face adversity.  They learn through the pain and agony of having to come up with hard answers....Leadership doesn't come from genes.  It doesn't come from reading or listening to lectures.  It comes from the hard earned experience in the arena rather than watching from the balcony. 

No matter how it is learned, John C. Maxwell says that something more is needed “The raw materials of leadership can be acquired.  Link them up with desire and nothing can keep you from becoming a leader.”

So, Are  Leaders Self-made.  How?

Warren Bennis, who interviewed with 28 accomplished American leaders from all walks of life reports that “Leaders are not only made, they are self-made.”  .

When  asked “Are leaders born or made.”, A.G. Lafley, the CEO of Proctor and Gamble said:

Clearly made.  You choose to lead.  You choose to want to make a difference, to make the world better in some meaningful way. Until the choice is made, you don’t have a leader. You have a lump of clay.

James A. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner  write and teach in their seminars that “Because leadership development is ultimately self-development, in the end, the leadership challenge is a personal challenge.”

Personal resources manager, Trish Jacobson describes the hardest part of that development.

Truly effective leadership behavior is a process that must be learned....Developing leaders need to choose to change how they behave, and such changes need to be learned and embraced.  The ‘learning leadership’ process can often involve an acceptance of new attitudes and styles of communication-not always easy transitions to make, as they involve fundamental behavior changes....

To become a successful leader, you must be able to effectively self-evaluate.  It is essential to be able to ‘step out of yourself’ on occasion and view your own behavior with objectivity....

Leadership skills development requires real investments into more difficult areas such as relationship skills, personal development and an unending mental flexibility to tolerate extra rational and emotional human complexities....

The bottom line in learning to be a leader then, is that traditional information or competency training must be enhanced by extra rational, experiential and personal development processes." 

Summing Up

Montgomery Van Wart, himself believes that  “…leadership is a largely learned phenomenon…improved through experience, self-analysis, and training….” But, he does not discount the role of “…innate abilities or hereditary advantage….”  

In conclusion, Van Wart says, however, that the question “Are Leaders Born or Made” is one of the “perennial debates of leadership theory.  After reviewing the various sides of the debate, he says:

Today the question is generally framed as one of degree, rather than as a strict dichotomy.  To what degree can leaders be “made” and “how”.  The developmental portion actually has two major components….While part of leadership is the result of formal training, this may actually be the smaller component.  Experience is more likely the more important teacher….

Thus, while the black-and-white debate about leaders being made or born is largely considered sophomoric, the more sophisticated debate about the relative importance of innate abilities, experience (unplanned or rotational), and formal training is alive and well.

Sources in Order of Citation

Are Leaders “Born” or Nurtured in Childhood to be Leaders?

Joseph Ellis in The American Experience.

Thomas Heggar in Mr. Roberts.

 James Bradley in Flags of Our Fathers.

Sharon Begley, “But I Did Everything Right” in Newsweek 18-25 August 2008.

Andrew Johnson, University of Western Ontario psychologist, co-investigator on a study on the connection between genetics and leadership style, published in 1998 in the journal Twin Research.  Quoted in “Are leaders Born or Made? Scientists suspect it's a little of both.” Seattle Times, 19 October 1999.

Thomas Bouchard and Richard Avery,  University of Minnesota psychologists quoted in “Are leaders Born or Made? Scientists suspect it's a little of both.” Seattle Times, 19 October 1999.

Lara Tiedens work reported by Del Jones in USAToday of 18 July 2007.

Begley, Newsweek..

A study of nearly one million Norwegians 26-30 years old published in the 17 July 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a study published in the July 2008 issue of Pediatrics and others, reported by Liz Szabo in USAToday, 17 July 2008.

Barack Obama interviewed by Jon Meacham, “On His Own” in Newsweek, September 1, 2008.

John McCain interviewed by Jon Meacham, “Hidden Depths” in Newsweek, September 8, 2008.

Dattner, Visage and CEOs cited by Del Jones in the September 4, 2007 edition of USAToday:

Jennette Andronian MSW, PhD, LCSW , and Associate Professor at the University of Maine School of Social Work quoted by Joshua Wolf in “What Makes Us Happy” in the Atlantic of September 10, 2009.

Carnes Lord, Naval War College Review, Winter 2001.

Tyler Drumheller On the Brink.

Can Leaders be Developed by Training?

Sherman quoted in William A. Cohen, The Art of the Leader.

General Lemuel Shepard, USMC (Ret) cited in U. S. Naval Academy text Leadership

Edgar Pruyear, American Generalship.

Eisenhower, quoted by Sally Jenkins in The Real All-Americans.

Montgomery C. Meigs in Parameters, Summer 2001.

George Buckley quoted by Del Jones in “Executive Suite” in USAToday May 18, 2009.

Can Leadership Be Learned, Taught?

John W. Gardner, in “The Cry for Leadership” Chapter 1, The Leader’s Companion.

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus in Leadership.

Peter Ducker, “Not Enough Generals Were Killed” in Frances Hesselbein, et. al. eds., the Leader of the Future.

Joseph S. Nye in The Powers to Lead  Appendix “A Dozen Quick Take-Aways” 1.

Thomas E. Cronin, “Thinking and Learning About Leadership” in J. Thomas Wren, ed., The Leader's Companion.

Bill George to Charlie Rose on PBS.

Advertisements in The Economist, 2008.

So, How Learned?

Eisenhower,  quoted by William A. Cohen in The New Art of the Leader.

Cronin in “Thinking and Learning About Leadership”.

Michael Hammer, Forbes ASAP, 8 April 1996.

Morgan W. McCall Jr., Gretchen M. Spreitzer and Joan D. Mahoney, “Identifying Future Leaders: They’re Made, Not Born” in  Harvard Business Review Nov-Dec. 1995.

Jeff Cannon and LCDR Jon Cannon in Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals. 

Peter Senge at National Defense University Symposium, 7 February 2000.

Warren Bennis  On Becoming a Leader.

Warren Bennis in Executive Excellence, Nov. 1994.

John C. Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You.

So, Are Leaders Self-Made:How?

Warren Bennis in in On Becoming a Leader.

Quoted in “Executive Suite: Advice from the Top” in USAToday of 19 February 2007.

James A. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner   in The Leadership Challenge

Trish Jacobson, "What it Takes to be an Effective Leader" in Canadian Manager, Winter 2000.

Summing Up

Montgomery Van Wart, Dynamics of Leadership in Public Service: Theory and Practice,  Chapter 13, “Types of Leadership Development”.

Van Wart, “Preface”.