Can you teach someone to be a leader?

Comments

• Morro

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  I don't think it can be taught, which is why I find courses on management so laughable. It's like saying "ok guys, here's how to be tall."
• JayDub

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  Pretty much you cannot teach people to be a leader. I am an officer in the CF, we are the leaders, the NCMs do the physical work and are the backbone of the military. Anyways, to become an officer you have to do two basic type courses for leadership. The first is IAP which along with teaching you the 'basics' of everything, it tests your ability to be a leader. In the final tasking you are put everything to the test. For example in my final tasking I had to lead a section of twelve people on a recce mission for a stolen truck, and detain any people of the gang if they were found then transport him to the meeting point where transport would pick us up. If you were not able to show you had leadership you would not pass the course. It is as simple as that.
  
  The next course is the same thing but much more intense. The final tasking usually involves a section attack and biological warfare.
  
  If you cannot both courses you cannot be an officer because you do not have the ability to lead.
• Krazy_Konrad

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  Heh, yeah leadership in the Army is awesome. Every one is trained to follow the directions of their superiors, whoopy!
  
  Hey Jaydub... your grunts would do whatever you tell them to do. If you fail its not because you are a poor leader, failure would be the result of poor choices/tactic.
  
  I think a key characteristic to being an effective leader is the ability to convay your ideas and convince people that your ideas are valid. A good leader would use proper grammer in order to impress his/her audience of their ideas.
• JayDub

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  I can fail as a leader not because the people under me do not listen, but because I am not a good leader. If I do not know what to do then I fail even if they are listening to me.
  
  A good definition of a leader is: “Directing, motivating and enabling others to accomplish the mission professionally and ethically, while developing or improving capabilities that contribute to mission success”.
• Krazy_Konrad

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  Sorry, I dont understand you Jay-dub. You say you would fail as a leader because you would be bad leader? I guess that makes sence...
  
  According to your definition of a leader; a leader would no longer be a leader once he/she failed to motivate others to "accomplish the mission professionally and ethically, while developing or improving capabilities that contribute to mission success." Right? I mean, therefor as soon as one fails in these capacities they are no longer considered a leader. Ergo, if a military leader makes a mistake or fails in their mission in any way then we can assume, by your definition, that they are no longer a leader. Wow, it must be hard to gain ranks in the Canadian Military if you have to have a 100% success rate in every aspect in every mission.
  
  For those who are confused to the actualy definition of a leader:
  
  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/leader
• JayDub

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  I didn't say it was THE definition of a leader but a good definition of a leader. And yes, you fail to be a leader if you are not able to lead.
  
  Failing a mission does not make end your existence of being a leader, ergo, sucess rate in missions does not solely determine if you get promoted.
• Krazy_Konrad

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  Oh sorry I miss understood you. I thought you said it was a good definition...
  It turns out its actually a bad definition.
  
  And in that case, whew I am glad that's not how it is in the CND military!
  
  But back to the thread topic: I am not sure that some one can learn how to be a good leader. One may be able to learn the definition and key aspects to good leadership, whether or not they are able to effectivly use the knowledge is another thing. However, in my opinion nearly any indavidual has the capacity to be a leader if put into the right situation. For example, a "nerd" most likely will not be a leader in gym class, yet if that "nerd" were to be put into an academic situation they may have the knowledge and confidence to excell, thus taking a leadership roll. The operative themes being Knowledge and confidence. If we have knowledge in a given area, then we may feel confident in a situation where that knowledge is valued, especially if the amount of knowledge is well advanced from other indaviduals. Even if knowledge and confidence are present we still need to take into account the ability to convince indaviduals of that knowledge and confidence. Furthermore an idavidual must also then have the ability to act, because without action there is no leadership. So in my brief meditation on this subject I suppose a good leader must have Confidence, knowledge, the ability to convince and act. I am not sure how you would teach some one these traits, perhaps it is possible, perhaps not.
• collegestudent

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  i think leadership is a skill which you either have or don't have, however, any skill needs to be honed and practiced. some people may not even be aware of the leadership skills they do possess. i believe you can be taught to be a (better) leader or to meet the potential you have to be a leader.
• Ether

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
  -Manual on military leadership
  --Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Someone might want to figure out what kind of leadership we're actually discussing here.
• Kevin M.

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  My idea of a leader is someone who makes decisions based on what is best for the group. Therefore, you are helping the group acheive it's goals and objectives. I don't know actually :S
• kiran

  November 2007 edited November 2007

  In my opinion, there's different ways to be a leader. You can lead in a more direct, aggressive manner by being in a position of authority and excersizing your power and control. Or, you can lead in a more indirect, passive manner by simply leading by example in common, everyday life. All in all, good leadership ultimately comes down to making good decisions and always trying to do what's right. By doing this, you will gain people's respect and their trust, making it easier for them to follow as you lead.
  
  With that being said, I do agree with Kevin. Good leaders need to take into account all the members of the group that they are leading and make decisions with their best interest in mind. This feeds off the idea I mentioned before: making good decisions leads to gaining respect and ultimately achieving your goal as a leader :)
  
  (Hopefully this makes sense!)