Are you a natural born leader?

Whether in charge of your household, department, business or nation, isn’t leadership in the blood…

Leadership. Are we born to it?

It is an interesting question. And one with important implications for career advancement.

As the Group Managing Director of ASEL Europe, I would consider myself in a leadership position. And not for the first time.

Those who know me, know that over the years I have most often had leadership roles within large businesses, whether they be retail or vendor side. When in the armed forces, I achieved promotions.

Is that something in my DNA?

I would like to say that it is something about my ability in the sector that finds me leading a large security company “on the cutting edge of technology that maximises the use of client resources to produce the very best outcomes for the very best value for money.” I’d like to say that, but I know the editor of a magazine would cut it out as a blatant plug for ASEL.

And in even more humdrum settings, those in our daily domestic lives, I find myself coming forward to resolve solutions. More of that later…

Throughout the centuries the debate has raged as to whether leaders are born or made. There are two camps; two distinct hypothesise: The Great Man Theory and The Trait Theory.

During the 19th century, Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle developed The Great Man Theory.

Carlyle said that “the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” In his view, leaders are inherently gifted with specific qualities that help them make an impression on the masses. The Great Man Theory also suggests that those who hold positions of power deserve them, because they’ve been endowed with unique gifts and traits. It implies that all great leaders share specific characteristics, regardless of when or where they lived.

Talking to my wife about the very possibility of me being classified under The Great Man Theory met with raised eyebrows, a look of incredulity and a gentle shake of the head indicating disbelief!

My daughter Martha then chose to further amplify her mother’s unspoken view on the subject by pointing out that, if I were such a great man “why are you always getting told off by mummy for doing things wrong?” Fair point!

Then there is The Trait Theory…

According to The Trait Theory, leaders are born, not made. The Trait Theory of leadership builds upon Carlyle’s early work. This theory suggests that leaders have certain inborn traits and innate characteristics that quality them for their role. Their ability to lead comes from a combination of personality, physical, and intelligence traits.

The assumption behind The Trait Theory is that if one can find people who possess the right traits, that person can improve an organisation’s performance and bring it closer to achieving specific objectives. And that leads me to the rainy cricket match.

Taking Martha to her cricket practice, the weather is not great. It was what comedian Peter Kay would call “fine rain, but soaks you through.”

Taking stock of the situation on arrival it was apparent that wet ground meant that kids coming inside to shelter and play indoors had wet shoes that were slippery. There was an obvious chance of kids slipping over and hurting themselves.

So, I got all the parents and children to dry their feet when they came indoors for the practice. And at the end of the practice, I made it my business to make sure that all the kids and parents were happy, had not picked up any injuries and had really had a good time.

Now contemplating that practice, I ask myself, was that leadership or was it simply ingrained process? Here’s why.

At ASEL, we operate a three stage risk management solution. It IS at our core – in our DNA.

The first stage is Risk Assessment. This is when we look digitally at the risk of a retailer’s entire estate to assess what potential there is for risk. The retailer can see all of the risk for their entire estate all in one place. It is a terrific system! In our cricketing example, this was the first stage where I became aware of the rain and the potential for moisture to cause slips and falls.

Then we mitigated the risk to the young players by determining a simple strategy of drying shoes. At ASEL this is the second stage of our process, Risk Modelling. We take our Risk Assessment and look at what measures can be best deployed to mitigate the risk by having just the right amount of resources in the right place for the right amount of time.

Then the final stage of our process is Security Assurance. In the cricket analogy this is speaking to parents after the practice, making sure they and the youngsters had a good time, that there were no injuries and that everyone was happy. In the retail scenario it is about making sure that what you did worked how it should of, and creating a feedback loop for improvement where necessary.

With the above in mind, I would propose adding a third theory to the debate about how leaders are made. Let’s call it Hardy’s Theory of Leadership…

Is leadership an inherent ability to bring about an outcome, by virtue of either inherent or acquired talents, or is it really more about putting the right processes in place to get the desired outcome by using the talents of everyone in your organisation. Perhaps leadership is about the application of a process, even one that you did not create yourself, that allows your people to bring success and nothing else.

If so, then risk leaders take note. In order to stay at the top of your department or organisation you don’t need just talent, however you were endowed with it. You need to successfully identify innovative processes that will allow your organisation to itself adapt to new environments, meet challenges and, ultimately, keep YOU at the top!