Developing Leadership Through Educational Debates

DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP THROUGH EDUCATIONAL DEBATES
What makes a great leader? This is a critical question—one that demands an answer. It's actually a tricky question, something known in persuasive circles as a false dichotomy. It's false because genetics and environment both play a part in leadership development. Intelligence (IQ) plays an important role in leadership development, as does emotional intelligence (EQ). Certain personality traits such as self-confidence, dominance and extroversion are also essential. Our family often influences us, as does our national and organizational culture. Sadly, some may have the potential to lead, but were never given the opportunity. And tragically, some believe they cannot lead, when they could have. A failure to take operational control; mental rigidity preventing adaptation of new ideas and threatening innovation; an inability to handle the stress, manifesting itself as a lack of emotional stability; and a failure to communicate in a way that inspires hope and trust can never take a man ahead in life and gain him public acclamation and appraisal.
To attune these qualities for self development and attaining leadership capacity having depth in the knowledge base is extremely important as -
“Our greatest adversary is our own ignorance.”
Therefore knowledge of things is undoubtedly essential. However, leadership is a complex skill—requiring as it does keen psychological insight into the mind, behaviors both rational and irrational, beliefs, attitudes, values, emotions, human motivation, communication skills, and so on. Leadership development is surprisingly difficult. Reasons for this include organizational factors beyond our control, and individual factors which we can control.
But, “skill is nil without will.” — Judah Ibn Tibbon, the Spanish physician and translator said in, A Father's Admonition to His Son. Great effort and underlying motivation play an incredibly important role in mastering leadership development. One has to be willing to put in the hours required to both seek out a sound leadership development. From the developmental stages of school years, if he/she is exposed to numerous debates it undoubtedly extend all the above said leadership qualities in a child.
Debate or debating is a formal method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which is a technique of persuasion. Though logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience are important elements of the art of persuasion, in debating, one side often prevails over the other side by presenting a superior "context" and framework of the issue, which is far more subtle and strategic. A debate format that emphasizes public speaking and real-world persuasion skills over the predominate use of evidence and speed is a form of art, involving aspects from showmanship to critical thinking.
When one participates in different educations debates it simply broadens one’s avenues of learning and develops the skills of communication, logical thinking, psychological and critical insight into various issues and above all the power of persuading people into believing and adopting his/her views and appreciating them. It enhances the self-confidence of an individual and motivates him/her to take up new challenges in life and simultaneously it develops the urge for succeeding in different fields of life. Besides achieving great competency level to attract the attention of others, through educational debates he/she learns the art of effective interaction and persuasion. Hence, succeeds in gaining the trust of the mass which is the greatest quality of a true leader. Therefore, we may say that educational debates effectively mould the personality of an individual in promoting his/her leadership qualities.

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