Leadership Can’t Be Taught, but It Can Be Learned!

By John Childress
Thursday, April 27, 2017

There is a debate in business and academic circles around how leaders are made. This goes beyond the age-old question of whether leaders are made or born. I think that has been answered a long time ago: leaders are made, not born. Teaching leadership to a class of students, or even giving a seminar on leadership to executives, is about as effective in developing leaders as reading a cookbook would be in developing chefs. It’s not just the information, but it’s also the doing that develops skills—and being a leader demands a specific skill set, just as being a chef does. 

Listening to an entertaining and informative lecture, or even reading one of the many books on leadership, does not develop leadership skills. It fills the head with good information, but not skills. We will know more about leadership, but we can’t be a leader with information alone. 

That’s why I believe leadership can’t be taught, but it can be learned. And learning leadership is akin to learning any other skill. Beyond knowledge of the subject, there must be the appetite to be a leader and the courage to act in accordance with the principles of leadership. Too many people attend a course on leadership or an executive seminar on leadership taught by some of the best-known leaders and walk out the door more informed, but not more committed to being a leader. They wind up with clever quotes and examples, yet still avoid putting themselves in situations that call for real leadership.

Becoming a Leader

For those with the courage and commitment to being a leader, very little teaching is required. They learn by doing; through experience, not words. They are the ones who volunteer for all the crappy jobs inside the company. They join the teams trying to solve the biggest problems. They take on the assignment of cleaning up a troubled division. They don’t stop at going to a leadership seminar, assuming they now have what it takes; they go to work. They watch other leaders face difficult situations and they internalize those lessons. Do they always win? Nope. Do they always learn something invaluable about leadership and themselves? Absolutely. Do they grow their leadership “muscles”? Definitely. Don’t just read a book or go to a seminar; let your life’s work be the book that someone else reads and the seminar others attend. 

Let’s look at some very famous and well-respected leaders. I think there would be pretty much unanimous agreement that the following individuals displayed great courage and positive leadership.

My advice to those seeking to develop greater leadership skills: don’t rely only on the classroom of seminars and workshops. Instead, get out into the world. Find a big problem and volunteer to fix it. Take on the worst assignments at work. Study great leaders—read about them. Don’t just blindly follow the information passed out by professors and leadership gurus; do your own homework. Leadership can be learned, if you have the courage and commitment.