Leaders may be made, not born

A new research has demonstrated that leaders may be made, but not born and the development of the leadership qualities follows a specific progression.

The study suggested that science is involved in teaching leadership development.

Professors Kari Keating, who teaches leadership courses in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences' agricultural leadership education major, said that in only 15 weeks in their introductory class, students reported significant gains in three important components of leadership, self-efficacy, or confidence in their ability to lead, skills and motivation to lead.

David Rosch said that leadership was a three-legged stool and they called it being ready, willing, and able and one could not really move on to the other legs of the stool until they had achieved a certain amount of this readiness.

Rosch said that the definition they used in the course was that leadership was an individual influencing a group of people toward a common goal.