Leaders are born, then made.

Describe a characteristic of your admired leader.

Everyone has a leader that they admire, be it a family member, a relative, a colleague, a former boss, a political figure, etc.

During my workshops, I get my participants to collectively come up with a list of characteristics that describe their admired leader.

We would get something like these:

1. Calm
2. Gives clear direction
3. Compassionate
4. Empathy
5. Firm
6. Assertive
7. Team player
8. Collaboration
9. And many others not listed here…

Then I would get my participants to indicate which of these characteristics they believe they currently have.

Not surprisingly, few, if ever, tick all the characteristics. Then I would ask them why, and the reason would be:

1. I am not that person.
2. I don’t have what that person has.
3. I don’t think I am (insert characteristic)
4. I don’t have what it takes to be a leader.

Are these human characteristics?

So, I would ask them these following questions:

1. To my participants: Is your admired leader a human? (Answer is ‘Yes’.)
2. Pointing to the described characteristics: Are these human characteristics? (Answer is ‘Yes’.)
3. Once more to my participants: Are you sure your admired leader is a human? He / She is not an alien, right? (Answer is ‘Yes’.)
4. Finally, to my participants: Then are you human too? (Answer is ‘Yes’.)

Here comes to bubble bursting moment as the realisation sets in.

Our admired leaders are human too.

We hold our admired leader up on a pedestal, yet we forget that they are humans just like us. They too have their own struggles. Yet, the characteristics that makes them who they are and why we admire them, we have it too.

Maybe not in the same amount, or in the same way, but the characteristic is there in us because those are what makes us human.

Our admired leader probably spent a lot of time working with what they were born with. Then are you going to work and develop upon what you currently have?

Whatever our admired leader has, we have them too. And if you accept this in your heart, then we can be a leader, and the type that you always wanted.

Because leaders are born, then made. The question is, are you willing to be made into one?

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