Is leadership an inborn or learned skill?
With the rapid changes that humanity is witnessing in the current era at all levels, the development of leadership skills has become more necessary than ever. There is no work team without a leader, and there is no human gathering under any purpose without leadership. The leader is that person who is able to influence others and to guide and direct those around him, by setting a clear vision, that enables others to achieve the desired goals without deviating from their path.
It is not necessary for a person to be born instinctively a leader, which was confirmed by Mr. Thamer Shaker, an expert in the field of management and enterprise development, where he pointed out that some people possess naturally the most important leadership qualities, including responsibility, initiative and love of learning, and others acquire these skills, Confirming that: However, leadership - like anything else - can be acquired by a person, his skills can also go to waste if he does not practice or try to develop them.
How do young people develop their sense of leadership?
In addition to training courses, videos and books from which young people can learn leadership skills, “Shaker” stressed on the need for young people to take the initiative to take over a leadership role, pointing out that leadership is not limited to taking over a specific position, but it is possible for young people to develop their sense of leadership by leading a voluntary team, because working in the social and charitable fields is available to everyone, and therefore anyone can test his leadership abilities through it.
The most important qualities of a successful leader
And since the success of any organization in administrative change process depends mainly on the leader, his vision and strategies, Mr. Thamer indicated that one of the most important qualities of an experienced leader is his ability to communicate and deliver his ideas to the employees, build a homogeneous work team, and involve them in the change process, stressing that a successful leader must have a great ability of persuading, so that the work team implements the plans as they are.
Balance
While young leaders strive to achieve their dreams as quickly as possible, some of them may fall into the trap of being preoccupied with work.
Here, Mr. Thamer stresses the importance of achieving a balance between work and personal life, so that the leader takes care of his personal life, family and health and at the same time cares about the professional aspect and accomplishing its goals.
Challenges
While the leader is primarily responsible for the success of the organization, in many cases, circumstances beyond his control may occur and cause projects to stumble, which was confirmed by Mr. Thamer noting that no leader, for example, would have been able to predict the COVID pandemic, and its consequences on many industries. Here, "Shaker" stresses on the importance of the leader's flexibility, adapting to changes, and his ability to change his strategies quickly in line with market change, and not to be opinionated.
And also among other challenges that young leaders may face is to be managing subordinates who are older than them, which may create clashes between them, and in order to avoid this, Mr. Thamer Shaker stressed on the importance of the new young leader to prove himself from the first working day, and to gain the everyone’s trust and convince them with his vision, Finally, he must have self confidence so as not to fall into the trap of tension with his subordinates.
Advice for young people
Young leaders must add value to other people. A distinguished leader does not make it to the top on his own, but he takes others with him to do so. Adding value requires that the leader continues to learn, and have affection and love for those he works with, in addition to communicating with others and explaining his plan and vision to them.
