Abstract This paper concerns the age-old question that has been tossed about in both business and academia for decades, or even longer: are the best leaders born or made? This question ponders if leadership relies heavily more on innate talents that one showcases without help from others or effort, or if leadership is a skill to be honed just like so many others. This paper demonstrates that the answer is less straightforward than many people would care to believe. Excellent leadership is a hybrid of both innate talents and developed skills. The biggest innate talent that lends itself most wholeheartedly to leadership is that of extroversion. While extroversion is not a guarantee that someone will become an excellent leader, extroversion is the single most consistent trait found in leaders in repeated research studies. The most important skills to develop as an effective leader are communication and self-awareness. This paper discusses at length the nuances, exceptions and implications of these findings.

Are Leaders Born or Made? The Answer: Both

The reality is that when it comes to leadership, there is no simple, dichotomous answer regarding born versus made: good leadership is a hybrid of innate ability and the effort put in to develop this inborn talent or lack thereof. Experts will perhaps always disagree about how many parts natural-ability versus how many parts effort excellent leadership consists of, and that’s fine. The answer will probably differ on a case by case basis. The most important thing to keep in mind is that elite leadership is a hybrid of inborn talents and the work put in to develop those talents. The reality is that excellent leaders have to do things that are fantastically complex and they often need to be able to depend on innate skills they’ve always possessed (like personal warmth) with other skills they’ve been forced to develop over time (like communication).

The Extroversion Pillar

While there is much debate online regarding who makes the better leader, extroverts or introverts, there is enough research to show that extroverts are more likely to be found in leadership roles (Riggio, 2009). The fact that this is a more common finding than...

This finding suggests that extroversion is one of those inborn personality traits that makes one a natural or more effective leader. It also suggests that people who are extroverts may naturally gravitate to positions of leadership because they consciously or unconsciously understand that leadership positions will help them to use their natural talents more acutely. Researchers have found that there is an exceedingly strong link between extroversion and leadership as it generally manifested in the ability to be gregarious, proactive, assertive, gregarious, high-energy and full of passion and zest (Judge et., 2002). Other research studies have noted the tendency of extroverts to exude warmth, approachable out-going qualities and a sense of being friends (Costa & McCrae, 1991). “The strong interpersonal element associated with this personality trait demonstrates why extroversion is a valid predictor of leader effectiveness” (Annette, 2018). Perhaps one of the major reasons that extroverts make such natural leaders because effective leadership revolves around the ability to get people to do what you say, when you say it: to create followers who are loyal and invested in the work that they do. Extroverts have the power of communication and vigor on their side. They often have an innate understanding of how to connect with people and the right words to use to get people enthused.
Extroversion is a quality that is innate. While people can be taught to communicate more effectively, people can’t really be taught to be more extroverted. Extroverted people have the natural confidence when it comes to meeting strangers, a general affability and a likeability that makes people gravitate to them. While extroversion isn’t necessarily the only quality that makes a great leader, it is definitely a component that researchers see more and more as part of this crucial hybrid of innate and learned qualities. While some experts might disagree, saying that extroversion isn’t as important as is an ability to connect with people, the research is very clear: extroversion is consistently found as a trait in existing leaders.

Learned Skill: Communication…