Leadership and Initial Self-assessment

Before I started writing this paper I put a lot of thought into the phrase "leadership development" and what it really meant to me. After all, I took this college level leadership class for professional development. I felt that the premise of this course was that leaders could be developed. If so, what are the factors that influence the development of leaders? Is there a single influence which dominate this development process? Do I have the ability to create my own leadership style and grow beyond the confines of conditional and environmental factors? I acknowledge the importance of a person 's upbringing, education, and environment in the creation of the person 's leadership style but these factors are largely external. I know for me, before I joined the Army, it was a common belief that leaders were born, not made. But as I grew in the Army I realized that effectiveness as a leader depends less on some innate trait you are born with, and much more on specific principles that anyone can follow. During the course of this class I also realized that learning about leadership means you have to recognize ineffective as well as effective leadership. It means understanding the dynamic relationship between the leader and the follower. According to Bernard Bass in Stagdill 's Handbook of Leadership, there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders. The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people and the third is the most widely accepted theory and the premise in which the handbook is based. First way; some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles; this is the trait theory. Second way; a crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person; this is the great event theory. Third way; people can choose to become leaders. They can learn leadership skill; this is the transformational leadership

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