Please Don’t Ask Me This Question About Leadership

A leadership consultant confesses their least favorite question

Our ideas about what it means to be a good leader have evolved over the years. A prominent theory of leadership is that history can be understood through the impact of superior men. This is known as the great man theory popularized by historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle in the 19th century. It rests on the tenet that certain men have innate qualities that make them unquestionable leaders. There’s a strong heroic masculine quality to all this. A feeling of leading being destiny accompanies this line of thinking. You either are a leader from birth or you’re not. This idea is largely out of favor but the ethos still exists especially in certain circles.

The great man theory is the source of my most dreaded question:

Are leaders born rather than made?

This is a pretty common question that’s frequently asked in interviews. Now I let interviewers know in advance that I’m happy to answer just about any question, except that one.

For me, it’s not really a useful question. It’s the old nature vs nurture argument. It just cemented outdated ideas about leadership. As you can imagine, I disagree with the nature argument. My work, especially Leadership…