Natural Born Leadership: Activate your inner superhero

Ronald Reagan once said “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” The ideology surrounding natural-born leadership illuminates a mythic persona innate in those that transcend the normalcy of transforming others reflective of Reagan’s leadership rhetoric. Leadership researchers are pedagogically perplexed in their attempts to ascertain this romanticized declaration of identifying leaders as modern-day heroes. By some, the development of leadership traits is seen in a dramatic interlude by spectators whose resolve redirects the notion that leaders discern what needs to be done and “naturally” influence others to accomplish extraordinary tasks. Sam Walton provides insight into the nucleus of a natural born leader when he stated “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”

These “superheroes” are characterized as humble citizens who develop others and unpretentiously share in their accomplishments. The environmentally-incubated promoters of change naturally resonate core qualities within their followers. Thus, they symmetrically attach those qualities to a tangible credence that gives others the opportunity to see themselves as leaders. This empowerment transforms the once shy, introverted wallflower into a now self-assured contributor of ideas. Alexander the Great said “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” This allegorical reference of inward change demonstrates how leaders can instill fierce confidence into those historically timid and coy in terms of activating their “inner leader.”

At the crux of the old management paradigm, leadership involves creating a ubiquitous vision, designing an ego-social, biological architecture that contours an organizational culture and arousing inherent yet dormant leadership traits within others to initiate change within a complex adaptive system. In essence, those who possess leadership qualities are essential to navigate the turbulent corridors in today’s organizational schema. While this valiant display of leadership appears natural, the ethnographical development of leadership prowess originates from a theory analogous to early exhibitions of headship during childhood. Meaning, the birth of leadership qualities begins with a heredity premise that percolates through the exposure to contextual instances that sharpens one’s managerial craft. In order for this to happen, leaders

must reside within a cultural architecture that triggers and employs a native or natural aptitude coupled with cognitive and decisive dexterity. Although leaders are seen as skillful technicians of talents and practitioners of proficiency, they would truthfully attest that there is more than meets the novice eye. Interestingly, behind the proverbial contextual certain, work environments stretch leadership capacities beyond a radius of comfortability and redirects complacent energies to new levels of initiative and creativity. Consequently, leaders become erudite beneficiaries that converts to an unbroken delivery of natural born wherewithal.

Now, the idea of genetically-altered “superheroes” should not be mistaken by an instantaneous osmosis that occurs by a chance encounter with a supernatural object containing leadership abilities. Some researchers believe that people are misguidedly given such a title because they administer leadership skills effortlessly, spontaneously, consistently and frequently that provoke others to respond and act willingly. This is further solidified in Dwight Eisenhower’s statement when he said “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Remarkably, leadership is intentional and purposeful. It is the choice of an individual to employ single traits bestowed from birth and develop those qualities to achieve mastery of exercising those skills effectively. Such skills like building rapport, clarifying expectations, attracting rising stars and creating a motivating environment, among other responsibilities, are what transforms sheep into lions and lions into leaders that lead sheep. These managerial maestros create a melodic opuses orchestrated by natural abilities in a nurtured environment. American scholar and organizational consultant, Warren Bennis, said it best when he stated, “Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.” So, let the music play!

Brian Matthews is an assistant professor of management at Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana.