Leadership and Adversity: Are Leaders Made or Leaders Born? A definitive answer to the question
The great debate of the last century has been about whether “leaders are born or leaders are made.” There have been biographies, books and articles, and more recently movies and television coverage about good and bad leadership. The media have provided information about the lives of leaders, how they led, what their successes and failures were, and how some overcame obstacles or dealt with adversity. These early influences laid the foundation for the admiration of those who succeeded despite having to overcome obstacles, tragedies, or adversity. A combination of outside senior leadership experience and a strong business background led me to write this article on the topic Are Leaders Born or Made?
Leadership research focused specifically on defining leadership and how certain events, obstacles, or adversities affected and shaped prominent leaders. This is a hermeneutic phenomenological investigation that focused on the lived experiences of sixteen outstanding leaders, who overcame adversity and grew as leaders in the process. I searched these sixteen leaders for their deepest thoughts, true stories, and real-life examples.
The research interview questions were designed to draw out participants’ experiences in a variety of interests. I encouraged the sixteen prominent leaders I personally interviewed to identify the most important events in their lives. I specifically asked them to share the effects of events, obstacles, or adversities in their youth and adult lives that shaped them. They were asked to reveal the resources within themselves that they used to overcome obstacles. Finally, I asked them if their experiences with overcoming adversity affected their development in any way, specifically their development as a leader.
This leadership research investigated how events, obstacles, or adversity shaped sixteen prominent leaders. Determining the mental model of the respective participants was an important step, but it does not by itself answer the question of ‘what makes a leader’.
The concept of shaping leaders can be described as analogous to refining metals to remove impurities, a process that requires a lot of heat and great stress on the raw material. Literature is replete with stories of people who have become great leaders after being subjected to the refining fires of what I call the “crucible of adversity.”
The following information from leading leadership scholars and the best-selling author for the interested reader seems to support my position and conclusion: leaders are made, not born.
Leaders Are Born vs. Leaders Are Made Controversy Literature Review Summary:
Professor John W. Gardner emphatically agreed with me that leaders are not born. In his well-received book “On Leadership,” he fully agreed with my conclusion that leaders are made.
Gardner’s response to the question of whether leaders are born was clear, direct, and totally unequivocal: “Bullshit!”
John Gardner, addressed the underlying issues of Nature versus Nurture that are central to the question Are leaders made or are leaders born? He was candid, direct and well documented in his arguments and it is evident that Leaders are not born, but are made.
The conclusion that leaders are made and leaders are not born is also supported by two highly respected leadership scholars and best-selling authors: University of Southern California, Marshall Graduate School of Business, Professor Dr. Warren Bennis and the Harvard University Graduate School. of Business Professor (Emeritus) Dr. John Kotter. Bennis and Kotter agreed with me, both making similar comments that they believed leaders are made, not born.
Professor James Kouzes, in his peer report on the findings and conclusions of this research on leadership and adversity, when he dictated it to me, agrees with my findings that leaders see challenges as opportunities. Jim Kouzes offered this specific comment on my findings from my leadership research, which was part of my doctoral dissertation on leadership.
Professor Kouzes’ commentary below is part of his scholarly paper on my leadership thesis research. He made the following comment on one of my leadership research findings on the importance of overcoming adversity, or big challenges, in the training and development of prominent leaders: “Challenge/adversity was and is part of every case that we’ve gathered about the best personal leadership. experiences.”
In addition to Professor Kouze’s review of this research on leadership and adversity, this research elicited a scholarly report from a leading leadership scholar and best-selling author, Professor Emeritus at the University of California Graduate School of Business. Harvard University, Dr. John Kotter. Professor Kotter specifically mentioned during our interview the Nietzsche quote, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. He found the idea to have a lot of merit, and the theme resonated throughout the sixteen interviews with top leaders about how they overcame adversity, its impact on becoming a successful leader, and what events specifically helped make them leaders.
Commenting on leadership research findings that overcoming adversity had an impact on the formation and development of prominent leaders, Dr. Kotter said, “It’s a classic idea that seems to have a lot of validity.”
He mentioned that he had written a biography on Konosuke Matsushita, the successful Japanese businessman. While the Matsushita name may not be well known in the United States, everyone is familiar with the product lines he has created, such as: Panasonic, JVC, Quaser, National, Technics.
Konosuke Matsushita is a true national hero in Japan. Matsushita has a touching life story, which is truly amazing. His success story is really about how he dealt with great difficulties and overcame adversity. Dr. Kotter summed up his story of Konosuke Matsushita, with the comment, “His many problems of his didn’t bring him down. They lifted him up.” Kotter then summed up his thoughts on this aspect with the comment that he thought the importance of overcoming adversity or difficulties “is very important.”
My selected comments from two of five academic peer reports, by two leading leadership scholars, Dr. John Kotter and Professor James Kouzes, have provided strong party support for my reporting and arguments in this article.
Leaders are made, not born!