On Leaders

Topic: Do you think that leaders are born with the ability to lead, or do you think they develop their leadership skills? Why?

IS A LEADER MADE OR BORN?

Society itself is like a ship without a captain, it just sails without a clear course, and if anything threatens it, there is no one to take the wheel and make decisions to overcome that threat, in fact, if there is no captain, whenever the crew panic, there would be no one to give them hope and make things still.

Since the beginning of time, whenever society has been without a leader, there has been uncontrolled chaos, for everyone has a different way of thinking and acting, and if all those different perspectives are brought to light at the same time, it becomes a mess. Society needs someone to be identified with, someone to take the wheel, foresee problems, be able to act on them, and carry the people to actual results. The person that qualifies with those characteristics, is worthy to be called a “leader”.

For me, the most important thing a leader must be able to do, is motivate people, since in any context, motivation is what keeps us standing on our feet through the process to achieving something, if there is no motivation, you become susceptible to fall with any little problem that comes on your way. That is why a leader has to transmit motivation with every word and with every movement, in fact, if a leader doesn’t transmit motivation, it might take the people to a null state that might in the future, lead them into their destruction.

Taking as an example the case of Venezuela, people knew the cause they were fighting for,

but there was no clear head that represented them, they needed someone to understand their position and make something about it; then, Guaido appeared in form of a leader to the revolution, not assuring a victory over the war, but motivating people to keep fighting for their country, and that is only what we see in the news. By this, I mean that since the civil war started, there has always been small leaders motivating people, may them be called someone in the neighborhood, or maybe just someone in the city who had the courage and the motivation to lead others into trying to change the situation.

Taking into account what was previously stated, I firmly believe that everyone is born a leader, the only thing that determines which are the real leaders is motivation.

Some people might say “I’m not a leader because I’m afraid”, or “I’m not a leader because I can’t talk in public” or any other argument, but what these people don’t know is that motivation defeats any limitation, if you motivate yourself without any limits, you can do anything without being worried about “fear” or “shame” or any other excuse. In conclusion, everyone is born a leader, the only thing keeping us from not becoming one, is lack of motivation to strive to overcome the challenges that life brings and make others to follow him/her by the right path to achieve successful goals.

By Camilo Duarte, Step 11.