Effective leadership is essential for any organization, and companies pay top dollar to recruit strong leaders. Many companies also spend a lot of money on leadership training; however, this is somewhat controversial. Many skeptics question whether leadership can actually be taught or whether good leaders are simply born with an innate ability to lead. 
In an article for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, the authors ask this very question: Are outstanding leaders born or made? Here, we’ll briefly discuss some evidence in support of each of these arguments. The full article is certainly worth the read for additional insights.
Leaders Are Born
One interesting argument in support of the notion of the born leader comes from nature. In the animal kingdom, there are many examples of leadership—the leader of a wolf pack, for example. The authors even point to a specific gene that, based on studies of twins, may be linked to leadership.
Leaders Are Made
While conceding that genetics may play some role in leadership, these authors point to evidence that is not necessarily a dominant factor. “The accumulated results of twin studies have consistently estimated the genetic component of leadership role occupancy at only 30% while estimating environmental influence at 70%,” they write.
Similarly, the authors point out that history is full of examples of great leaders who came from ordinary parents and who sired ordinary children without the same leadership abilities as their parents.
Strong leadership is one of the factors that makes great companies great. Unfortunately, truly great leaders are in short supply, which means that companies will go to great lengths to find them. The jury is out on whether leaders can really be “made” through training and mentoring, but the fact that so many companies implement leadership development programs suggests there may be something to it.