Tuesday was an interesting day. I was up by 6 am because I had to be at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia for training. It was the Global Leadership & Mentoring Congress 2008; Leadership &
Service Science: A New Paradigm in Innovation.
I was there by 8 am, one of the earliest. I had a chat with some colleagues before I sat at my comfortable spot by the corner (for leg space... I'm quite tall... hahaha) quite close to the front.
This year's line up of speakers includes a host of luminaries which include K.P. Ho (Chairman, MediaCorp), Chua Sock Koong (Group CEO, SingTel), Y.Y. Wong (Founder & Chairman, Wywy Group), Philip Ng (CEO, Far East Org) and Peter Kok (M.D., Key Clients UBS). I thoroughly enjoyed Y.Y. Wong and Peter Kok's insights into leadership. I missed out on K.P. Ho's key note address the day before. I heard that it was also awesome.
Some of the hotly debated issues on leadership were discussed freely; Leadership: Nurture or Nature was just one of the examples. So what do you think?
Leadership: Is it determined by DNA and your make-up or is it something that can be nurtured?
Are leaders born or made?
Let me know what you think! Drop a comment at the Comment box NOT the CBOX. Hahaha. I've gotta let you guys know beforehand or else you guys always have a leaning towards doing the absurd... lunacy... tsk, tsk like dropping a 500 word comment on the cbox. Hahaha. Do drop a comment on what you think ok! It'll be great to know what's on your mind!
After hearing everybody speak, I was convinced that there were definitely a lot of nuggets of wisdom to be brought back and pondered upon!
Well, I didn't really take much pics of the event; felt a little awkward snapping. So the only shot I had inspired the title for this post: Tea-Pen
10 comments:
well dev.. i guess.. somehow i think leaders are born and then made.. If you are working with and others to achieve objectives and aims, you are already a leader. the question now is that are u an effective leader? you can be one if your able to make changes to others..
peace out :)
hey dev...
amazing u can meet the ceo of mediacorp and the rest of the big shots in singapore. always wanted to know how the ceo of mediacorp is like..tell me tell me!
I MISSED IT !!!... SOB SOB !!!..
I'll go for leaders are born and made. Some people do have natural leadership skills. But it doesn't mean that if they lack of it, they cannot be trained. In that case, these leaders are made. But like what jing mi mentioned, to be an effective leader is altogether another thing. In that case, leaders ought to be lifelong learners in order to be an effective one. There, my take:)
Good one dev, i like the idea of OpinionatedThinker, it's a good way of sharing for deeper thoughts on things like leadership, which can be shared thru the insight of good leader. as jingmi described, her view of leadership is the circle of influence over ppl ard u, of how u can influence others the way u influence urself all the time (ur personality, i.e. lead others the way u lead urself). And i think most ppl will answer that leaders are born and made as Eli commented, which can be divided into two categories:- trained and untrained leader; trained leader is raised by nature and nurtured, while untrained leader is the one who has the gift but not focus. However personally i'd think that leaders are made, it's the process and the determination that keep leader learning and never end up trying, and eventually produce a great fruits. But how u define a born leader? They have a very natural leadership skill but how u know that they did not going thru the process of learning or the force of environment that require them to lead?
U guys are deeply profound... cool. I like ur comments. It's an ongoing debate. So we're open to ideas frm all over... keep it up.
my mum babysits lots of kids years back..now still do but only one. but back then it was like a mini kindy school at home. they were all from as young as few months old to teenagers. when i observe these kids as they play.. or when they get punished, etc.. i can tell who is the leader among them all- the one who'd be the bigger influence over the other kid.. the one who all the other kids follow after..from what to play to whether they should follow orders or not.. and when we give instructions.. who'd be the one who'd gather the other kids, etc.. and well, usually, there's always one or two with very distinct leadership characteristics. so that, IMHO, are natural born leaders :)
i guess there's a spark of leadership inside everyone whether they like it or not.. some people may be born with just a tiny spark of leadership.. some may be born with a flaming torch of leadership.. but i believe leaders need molding and nurturing no matter how big/small the flame/spark that they may have..
a flame without constant addition of burning material will die down.. a tiny spark if being added oil or burning materials can burn a whole forest down..
so i would say that leaders are born, but good and impact-creating leaders are made and continuously empowered
Normally for a group of kids, the older will be taking charge, this is case #1, but there will be an exception for the one who have strong personality and matured enough to lead others, so this is case #2, the born leader, again i agree that there's born leader but most of the time it happens to be case #1, who is the leader being made, i would say that personality playing a big part in leadership characteristic, and my question is - personality changeable? If yes, leader can be made..
A leader is born, a great leader is MADE ! :) You're the latter !
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