Are leaders born or made?

The truth is, not everyone can be a leader. In my opinion, even though leadership is a skill, not all of us could acquire it through time and practice and if I am wrong, maybe the leadership skills might not just be equally as powerful as others. According to the definition of mental models, there influence not only leadership reasoning and performance but also organizational outcomes. Mental models are mindset which are based on what we value and believe in life. It carries our perception over things and form it into the principles we live with.

Being a leader, you must be strong mentally. The reason why mental models are valid key drivers of being a leader is because it all starts in the mind. Leadership is about competence and wit to lead and handle people, directing them towards the goal of the group. Mental models can be a powerful key to distinguish those with leadership and those who do not. Mental models of leadership are all about the take on situations based on the assumptions of a person and what needs to be done and what is the best to choose out of the options.  

What is the difference between leadership and management?

Leaders lead people for a reason, that reason is highly unrelated to money. Being a leader means someone having an amazing communication skill, risk-taker and goal oriented. On the other hand, being a manager most likely relates to monetary benefits that push someone to be a good manager. Managers lead over their subordinates who work under them and follow their given tasks.

I believe the main difference between the two are the who and why they lead. Leaders lead primarily for the success of the whole team while managers lead in order to accomplish the tasks passed down from the upper management. Leadership and management both require strong and firm characteristics like ability to direct, delegate roles and handle their members. Both need to have great use of their influence to lead the group towards the finish line and achieve their goals.

Leadership is all about handling the members in a way that they can work on their own while contributing to the group and their goal is fixed in one thing. The vision is important for the leader to pass on to the team and they can work on towards reaching it. On the other hand, managers are great in assigning tasks and roles that will be in the best interest of the upper management and their roles are commonly influenced by the skills of each subordinates. Managers direct and look after their team members in a routinely basis. 

For me, leaders are born. Like what I have said in the earlier questions, being a leader is not for everyone. It takes guts, vision, and communication skills to be qualified and of course, physical, emotional, and mental endurance and ability to judge rationally.

Personally, because of being exposed in school and being chosen as leader for multiples times, I still believe I am not that good someone fit to lead based on my standard of who deserves to be a leader. Being a leader is a blessing and a burden at the same time. It is a blessing because it will influence us to do better through developing our self-awareness, critical thinking, our loyalty, courage, and responsibility on our words and decisions.

Nonetheless, being a leader is virtuous. It means that you will put others before yourself in terms of giving them a hand during their hardships and being able to turn their shortcomings into their strengths. You have to be honest and decisive. A wrong decision can put the whole team into trouble and that equates to the burden of being one step ahead of others. Whether born or made, being a leader means having the skill to inspire or guide others towards believing in their own capabilities, nurturing their confidence and staying humble at the same time.I think communication breakdown occurs on the very moment we start getting too much information and have a hard time absorbing everything all at once. Having members who think differently is more likely to have communication breakdown, the message may be misunderstood because of information overload and after that, the message might be decoded improperly from what the actual message is all about.

            If communication breakdown happens, the best way to deal with it is to breathe and take everything slower and little by little to. We have to slow down and wait for the information to get into our heads and process it carefully. As a team, we need to think and decide in unison to come up with a winner solution or decision and avoid any more confrontations. Lastly, we need to be a good listener and be patient with one another

For you, are leaders born or made?