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Leadership & Ethics '' Final Exam
1. Are leaders born? Please provide examples to support your statement.
According to Avolio (1999) some people are born to move and shake the world. Their blessings: high energy, exceptional intelligence, extreme persistence, self confidence and a yearning to influence others. He also stated that after 50 years of collecting data on the topic, most psychologists believe that leadership qualities are innate or genetic and thus impossible to learn. However research has proven that leadership skills can be developed and mastered. For example, our parents can instill us with the tools and drive to lead and set challenging goals for us to accomplish but we could also develop good leadership skills from attending any educational institution.
Stogdill (1948) Stated that recent research done using a variety of methods, has made it clear that successful leaders are not like other people, and the evidence indicates that there are certain core traits which significantly contribute to business leader ‘s success. Research also suggests that 48-59 percent of effective leaders are associated with genetic factors but there are environmental factors that shape individuals to become great leaders.
In conclusion, it is clear that some individuals were born to lead as they possess the traits that differentiate them from other. It was also evident that not everyone has the ability to master challenging tasks, takes on great levels of responsibilities and set defined goals and objectives to accomplish. Also it is not impossible that an individual can be trained to develop good leadership abilities, but in order to select that person they must have displayed some great attributes or qualities. Individuals with these key leadership traits are more likely to engage in the behaviors associated with leadership than those individuals who possess these traits to a lesser degree. Therefore it is evident that good leadership truly depends...
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