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2. Leaders are born, not made Over the years there has been many opinions on this statement, and when trying to understand leadership success many approaches have been looked at. Researchers at the start of the 20th century focused on traits that leaders possessed. It was thought that some people were born with traits which made them a leader. Before the 2nd World War a lot of research was carried out, which sought to identify these characteristics. This is known as the Great Man Approach, since being born with these characteristics made you a “great man”. So is it true that leaders are born? Before seeking to answer this question, the theories should be examined. Stodgill (1948) and Bass (1959) looked at people who had achieved “greatness” and tried to identify traits which they all possessed, and distinguished them from others. They identified 5 main characteristics which consisted with effective leadership:- - intelligence - dominance - self confidence - level of energy and activity - task relevant knowledge They deduced that some traits do seem to contribute to effective leadership. However, even they stated traits vary depending on organisational situation. The main problem with the trait theory is that leaders can possess very different traits, and still be effective leaders. If we take for example 2 effective leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Richard Branson they lead in very different ways and possess very different traits.
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