Born or Made Leader

EMER JOY T.
VALE, RN, MAN

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
LEADERS: BORN OR MADE?

POPE FRANCIS RULES WITH KINDNESS
Are leaders born or made?
This is the most basic and most often-asked question about leadership. To cut to
the chase, the answer is: ‘mostly made.' The best estimates offered by research is that
leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made. The job of leading an
organization, a military unit, or a nation, and doing so effectively, is fantastically
complex. To expect that a person would be born with all of the tools needed to lead just
doesn't make sense based on what we know about the complexity of social groups and
processes. As per notion, our present pope, Francis qualifies as one. His behavior is a
product of his experiences in the past making him a very effective leader.
The first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years, and someone with an
outspoken style and radically different leadership style has made Pope Francis one of
the most controversial pope’s ever.
His views on church reform, poverty, climate change and divorce have shaken up
world opinion and placed him firmly in the media spotlight. His visits to Israel and Cuba,
the welcoming of Palestine president, Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican, his address to
the U.S. Congress and willingness to meet world leaders demonstrate that he is a pope
unafraid of international diplomacy. A real leader does not shy away from crisis and
debate, but embraces them as part of finding a solution.
He reaches out to non-customers. As noted that every organization has more

non-customers than customers and that you can learn more from the people who aren't
buying your product than from those who are. At 1.2 billion adherents, the Catholic
Church has what you might call a huge customer base, but Francis makes sure to reach
out to non-Catholics as well, for instance by declaring that God has redeemed all of us,
not just Catholics. That simple leadership tenet may be the best way to increase market
share.
He embraces risk. When Francis was young, he became very ill, and the nun
who tended him disobeyed the doctor's instructions and tripled his dose of antibiotics,
because she knew from experience that without that higher dose he would die. He uses
that as an example of living on the frontier. You can't be an effective leader if you're
always playing it safe. Living on the frontier is something the pope has to do every day."
He reinvents organization. "Don't change--reinvent!" "Pope Francis is a fearless

reformer. He has taken on just about every faction of the Catholic Church in order to
make it a more inclusive religion." The best leaders do the same. "They do not fear
change--they know when changing a few things is not enough. They reinvent their
organizations in an ever-changing global marketplace."
EMER JOY T. VALE, RN, MAN
He is patient. Though reinvention is essential, "Authentic change doesn't take

weeks or months, it takes years. Pope Francis has shown by his timing that he
understands this. "For example, it was almost his one-year anniversary before he
reportedly commented that divorced and remarried people could receive Holy
Communion." He knows that such paradigm changes can happen only over the long
term.
He gets into the field. "Pope Francis hates any members of the clergy who sit in
offices and push paper". As a bishop in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio (as he was
then), would dress as a plain priest and go out at night to talk with people. "When he
became pope he told one of his archbishops, 'I can't do that anymore, so you're going to
do it for me.' He doesn't want a pristine church, he wants a church that's going out in the
streets to find people and help them." Likewise, Pope Francis famously chose not to
move into the papal apartments but to remain in a guest suite at the Vatican, "to live in
community with others," according to a Vatican representative.
In the same way, the most effective business leaders are those who keep in
touch with as many constituents as they can. Delegating is a necessary part of
leadership, but don't hand off all contact with lower-level employees or customers.
Otherwise, you may find yourself isolated and out of touch.
He listens to diverse voices. It's much too easy for business leaders to surround
themselves with like-minded advisors and leave it at that. While that can be comfortable
and efficient, it will tend to reinforce the status quo, which is not good for any
organization over time. "What the pope has done to avoid being insular is create the
Vatican Eight [V8]”. That's a group of advisors including cardinals from the Americas,
Africa, Asia, and Australia, as well as Europe, plus one Vatican official. "To me, it's his
board of directors, “They’re from all over the world, and they consult with him to help
him make decisions. He wants to get other people's opinions."
He puts the organization's goals above his own. "The qualities that help send
people to the top of organizations fly in the face of humility, “They’re full of confidence
and bravado, and these are not terms Pope Francis approves of in a leader." In the long
run, though, setting your organization's goals above your own will build a more powerful
organization and benefit you as its leader.
He leads by example. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he recruited priests to go

into the city's most dangerous slums, the villas miserias. In these places, the collar does
not offer much protection; priests have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered. Still, he
often showed up unannounced to drink tea with parishioners and to support local
priests.
EMER JOY T. VALE, RN, MAN
And in 2009, when one of his priests received a death threat for having spoken
out against drugs in one of the villas, he walked the streets, providing himself as a
target and a dare for anyone wanting to retaliate. They were never bothered again.
The fact that leadership is mostly made is good news for those of us involved in
leadership development - leaders can indeed be developed. Yet, there is some "raw
material," some inborn characteristics, that predispose people to be and become
leaders. What are some of the inborn qualities? Research suggests that extraversion is
consistently associated with obtaining leadership positions and leader effectiveness.
There is also some evidence that being bold, assertive, or risk-taking can be
advantageous for leaders. Leaders also need to be smart to analyze situations and
figure out courses of action. So, intelligence is associated with leadership, but perhaps
not general IQ, but social intelligence - understanding of social situations and processes
- is the component of intelligence that is important for leadership. Finally, some sort of
empathy, or ability to know followers, is also advantageous for leaders (although much
of this is learned). As noted leadership scholar, Bernard Bass, noted, "The leader must
be able to know what followers want, when they want it, and what prevents them from
getting what they want”. These are some of the qualities that our president has.
Does this mean that introverts, persons of average social intelligence, or those of
us who are not particularly empathic will not make good leaders? It is certainly not.
Remember, most of leadership is made, not born. So, if you aspire to positions of
leadership, then the best course is to embark on a leader self-development plan.
Fortunately, there is tremendous interest in leadership and in leader development, and
there has lately been a strong emphasis on the importance of self-development for
leaders.

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EMER JOY T.

VALE, RN, MAN

LEADERS: BORN OR MADE?

Are leaders born or made?

He reaches out to non-customers. As noted that every organization has more

He reinvents organization. "Don't change--reinvent!" "Pope Francis is a fearless

He is patient. Though reinvention is essential, "Authentic change doesn't take

He leads by example. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he recruited priests to go

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