Real Talk: Are Leaders Born or Made?

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Leadership Trait #1: A Clear, Achievable Vision

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

Warren Bennis
True leaders have the capacity to develop a big vision—one that inspires and motivates their team—and turn it into reality. This requires not only a passion for the vision, but the clarity to communicate it and the intelligence and experience necessary to execute it.



How to Work on It

Start by setting a clear vision for yourself. Pick a method that works best for you—whether it's making a vision board or making lists—and start laying out some of your biggest goals right now. Make sure to be specific; for example, don't just say you want to move forward in your career, say you want to land a new job at the manager level by the end of Q1. Ultimately, you want each goal you set to have a measurable outcome (like the number of freelance clients you bring in or the amount of money you want to help generate for the business) and a timeframe associated with them.

Once you have your inspiring goal ahead of you, lay out some baby steps or set up some habits to help you actually do it. The more you practice setting and achieving goals for yourself, the more you'll be able to lead others to do this down the road.

Further Reading: How to Set Ambitious Career Goals You Can Realistically Accomplish



Leadership Trait #2: The Ability to Influence and Inspire

I think it's important to move people beyond just dreaming into doing. They have to be able to see that you are just like them, and you made it.

Sonia Sotomayor
Remember that your work and its success isn't solely dependent on you; good leaders know how to rally the people around them toward the same overarching goal. If you want your team, your friends, or even random strangers on the internet to follow your lead, you need to get clear on where you want to take them, start down that path yourself, and be willing to hear them and help them along the way.



How to Work on It

Whenever you're pitching an idea or talking about something you've worked on—whether it's talking to your boss about a new way to approach a process or bringing a big new project to your team—see it as an important opportunity to practice this skill. Take some time to carefully plan out how you're going to both help people emotionally connect with your idea (a.k.a., getting them excited!) and also convince them that it's totally feasible with the help of some tactical steps for moving forward. Great ideas can fall to the wayside if they're not communicated well, so be sure to practice and refine this! Giving your pitch to a friend or mentor before you give it to the powers that be can be a great way to figure out what you're missing before it really matters.

Further Reading: This is How to Pitch Anything to Anybody—From a Big Promotion to a Brilliant Idea



Leadership Trait #3: The Capacity to Adapt

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.

Douglas MacArthur
The only constant—in work and in life—is change, and a good leader knows how to navigate that inevitability. Change shouldn't be viewed as an obstacle, but rather as a chance to be inventive, adaptable, and decisive in the face of uncertainty. It's also the perfect opportunity to show others that they can rely on you to make big decisions.



How to Work on It

Change can be stressful, so one of the first steps in learning this skill is getting over the feeling of panic that can set in during a shifting situation—or at least getting more comfortable with the feeling. So, look for ways to put yourself in settings where change is happening, like in an organization that's always innovating or on a brand new project at work. When you find your heart rate rising in the face of change, remind yourself that it's an opportunity for you or your organization to become better than ever.

Once you feel comfortable, you can take it a step further and be an agent of change. Whether you're in charge or not, seek out smart ways to shake things up, think outside of the box, or facilitate needed change, so you can practice and showcase your inventiveness and adaptability.


Source: https://www.themuse.com/advice/real-talk-are-leaders-born-or-made