Are leaders born or made? What you say?

No one is born educated, everyone learns and develops the abilities and potential and acquire skills.

Thanks for invitation Mrs samar :

I agree with answer of Mr Omar saad

-All remarkable leaders have great history behind them. They were leaders from the onset of their journey.

-If leaders were solely born what is the point of the rest of us studying leadership or management?

I was googling for your Question I found this article in LinkedIn

The best estimates offered by research is that leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made.

I think everyone is born with the potential but some are discovered while the others are not.

Thanks

He - she born but need to learn some skills. 

No one is born with special abilities from thier mothers womb.

It is the passage of time that you develop your skills and attitude.

Everything on earth depends upon how you develop your personality.

This is the most basic and most often-asked question about leadership. To cut to the chase, the answer is: ‘mostly made.' The best estimates offered by research is that leadership is about one-third born and two-thirds made. The job of leading an organization, a military unit, or a nation, and doing so effectively, is fantastically complex. To expect that a person would be born with all of the tools needed to lead just doesn't make sense based on what we know about the complexity of social groups and processes.

The fact that leadership is mostly made is good news for those of us involved in leadership development - leaders can indeed be developed. Yet, there is some "raw material," some inborn characteristics, that predispose people to be and become leaders. What are some of the inborn qualities?

Research suggests that extraversion is consistently associated with obtaining leadership positions and leader effectiveness. There is also some evidence that being bold,assertive, or risk-taking can be advantageous for leaders. Leaders also need to be smart to analyze situations and figure out courses of action. So, intelligence is associated with leadership, but perhaps not general IQ, but social intelligence - understanding of social situations and processes - is the component of intelligence that is important for leadership. Finally, some sort of empathy, or ability to know followers, is also advantageous for leaders (although much of this is learned). As noted leadership scholar, Bernard Bass, noted, "The leader must be able to know what followers want, when they want it, and what prevents them from getting what they want."

Does this mean that introverts, persons of average social intelligence, or those of us who are not particularly empathic will not make good leaders? Certainly not. Remember, most of leadership is made, not born. So, if you aspire to positions of leadership, then the best course is to embark on a leader self-development plan.

Fortunately, there is tremendous interest in leadership and in leader development, and there has lately been a strong emphasis on the importance of self-development for leaders. Rather than getting leadership development from a costly program or from your employer (development/training budgets have been cut deeply by the recession), you can embark on your own leadership development program. Below are some resources for self-development, as well as references/links to the research on born vs. made

Leadership is a set of skills which can be acquired through effort and proper training, along with experiences. Some personality traits do work additively towards successful leadership, but the main asset of a leader are the people behind him.

As a result, a leader can be made and by developing his/her personal charisma and personal traits, he /she can become an even better one.

Some people think leaders are born—they naturally possess the social intelligence and charisma that motivates others to work together. Others believe that leaders are made—they build their skills with practice, experience and mentoring.

So which is it—born or made?

It turns out that both camps are right. Researchers have found that leaders come by their talents partly through genetics but mostly through hard work and persistence. In fact, one study from The Leadership Quarterly1 on heritability (that is, the innate skills you bring to the table) and human development (what you learn along the way) estimated that leadership is 24 percent genetic and 76 percent learned.

Researchers confirmed that some people are born with innate qualities that predispose them to being leaders (remember that outgoing kid in school who everyone wanted as class president, team captain or club leader?). However, even those of us who aren’t naturally gifted with leadership acumen can acquire it.

The study tracked a group of 165 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory leadership theory course. It found that leadership development follows a specific progression, which authors Dr. Kari Keating, Dr. David Rosch and Lisa Burgoon call being “ready, willing and able” to lead. To be an effective leader you first need the motivation to lead; then you need the willingness to learn the skills necessary to practice leadership; and finally, you need the opportunity to express those skills by actually leading. Dr. Rosch describes this as like a math class: “You’re not ready to do calculus if you don’t know the basics of algebra.”

If it takes more than a winning personality to rally people around you toward a common goal, maybe it’s time to finally put aside the debate over whether great leaders are born or made. Yes, genetics may give some people a faster start out of the gate. But as the old saying goes, “It’s not what you’ve been given but what you do with it that matters.”

Bottom line: Leadership isn’t a race; it’s a marathon that is run in stages throughout a career. It doesn’t matter how a leader comes by his or her skill. There is no such thing as a perfect leader or a one-size-fits-all way to lead. What matters is that you possess the requisite skills for the job and that you are willing to apply those skills for the benefit of those you lead. Fortunately, that’s something each of us can learn.

Firstly, let us clear this misconception that "Leaders are born"; no one is born a leader but some people are truly born with "leadership traits".

People who are naturally born with leadership traits can be nurtured, tutored or mented to become real leaders.

On the other hand however; there are "made leaders" too. Some one may not be born with leadership traits but this person may pick up leadership passion along their life path, if such a person is nurtured, mentored, tutored or sponsered to study leadership, this person may turn out to be a leader