TPO 38: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Leadership comes naturally: one cannot learn to be a leader. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. v.4

As you know in every community there is a demand for a leader who can wisely guide the members of the community toward their ultimate goal and maintains the strong configuration of the community by their companionship. There is no doubt that a leader should have some specific attributes and skills in order to take this role. In this respect, there has been always a controversial question of whether leadership is an intrinsic ability or something that can be learned. From my own perspective, as this ability depends on several factors, it is achievable. In the following paragraphs, I will elaborate on my viewpoint through three conspicuous reasons. The most prominent point coming to my mind is that our nurture in our early ages determines lots of our attributes in the future. According to psychological studies, the approaches that parents use in order to train and breed their children have a direct effect on the formation of children' s' personalities. For instance, in a family that parents make all the decisions and dictate to their children what to do and not do, children would not have enough self-confidence to take different responsibilities or make decisive decisions which are key characteristics of a leader. On the other hand, a child who has permission to contribute to making decisions has more self-esteem and the features of leadership would gradually thrive in his/her personality. Another important issue that should be considered is the inevitable effects of the surrounding environment on suppression or stimulation and development of a certain ability. Children who grow up in a big city and study in modern schools are exposed to more elaborate situations and learn how to deal with them. They learn how to proceed with collaborative work and become familiar with its challenges. They gradually figure out the principles of leadership. For instance, choosing group members, rounding them up, setting a goal, distribution of duties, and prediction of problems and solutions. However, children in villages or small cities do not have these opportunities and their ultimate goal and duty are only studying. Therefore, the attributes and concept of leadership would not be deeply developed in them. Finally, it is worthy to be mentioned that human is not a creature with fixed abilities and he/she can overcome the limitations and expand his/her abilities and skills. One of the renowned psychology professors at Stanford University has mentioned in one of her popular book, the mindset, that all things relate to our mindset. people who have a fixed mindset believe that humans have some intrinsic abilities and inherit their characteristics from their forefathers and do not have any control over their limitations. On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe that humans can acquire skills and not everything relates to the genes. The only thing that matters is working hard and persistence and by these factors human would be able to conquer every summit. The second notion has been scientifically proven. Therefore I think leadership is not an exception, it can be learned by everybody. By and large, It seems reasonable to draw the conclusion that leadership does not come naturally as lots of factors including nurture and environment determine it. Also, humans have the ability to learn and boost their knowledge and skills.