Home » Blog » Management and Leadership » Leadership Skills – Are Great Leaders Born or Made?

In the current economic climate businesses are having to rethink and redefine the role of leadership. Leadership is commonly defined in terms of individual traits rather than institutional ones and as a role reserved for those who were born to lead.

However Leading leadership guru Warren G. Bennis thinks:

“The most dangerous leadership myth is leaders are born–that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.”

The World Economic Forum and worldwide commercial consultant Booz Allen & Hamilton summises that leaders of successful companies share several characteristics.

The main characteristics of great Leaders

• effective leaders change what they do, not who they are
• people trust in great leaders because their behavior is consistent
• effective leaders are active listeners
• great leaders involve others in decision making where appropriate
• effective leaders show respect for followers by telling them the truth

Leadership Training Courses

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characteristics of great Leaders, effective leadership, leadership, leadership course, leadership myths, leadership skills, leadership training, Warren G. Bennis

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This entry was posted by Heather Buckley on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Management and Leadership, New Free Resources, Personal Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.