You can find tons of articles about “natural leadership.” The Huffington Post has “7 Habits of Natural Leaders". I can’t even bring myself to link to the Forbes article because it has some malarky about “how deeply to people value your thinking?" Inc magazine will even tell you the “3 Signs You’re Meant to be a Leader.” Natural leadership is a myth.

I recently listened to a podcast interview with Barbara Corcoran on the Dose of Leadership. I find Richard's interviews worthwhile. I might disagree with some of the observations that surface. I think it’s worth a listen to get exposure to other successful leaders. What jumps out at me is how successful leaders often don’t have great guidance for folks who want to be successful leaders.

When Richard interviews Barbara she concludes that hers was just natural leadership that she developed over lots of time. That her mom was a natural leader, and that she developed in her the same natural leadership. As the interview continues, there are clearly some good points to be shared. And the idea that leadership is simply a natural thing for some folks does a disservice to the multitudes of people that want to improve. Barbara hits on some of these behaviors even though she doesn’t highlight them as learnable behaviors.

There are behaviors you can learn. Nobody is born with these behaviors. They learn them. There’s nothing inherent about any of it. And you can learn new habits, become more effective and be a better leader.

Certainly some of leadership is being a role model. And yet many successful leaders model behavior that they don’t tolerate in others. So being a role model is something that happens - people watch what you do. Modeling behavior that you want to see in your team, that’s something that everyone can do. Treat others like you want to be treated (and how you want your team to treat your customers).

Certainly some of leadership is perseverance. Continuing to persist through adversity is an important aspect of leadership. Some of that is being the role model you want others to embody. Determination also requires communication in order that folks don’t see blind determination. There’s a time to cut-bait and pivot, and leadership means teaching people when to push through and when to pivot.

This isn't an exhaustive list of leadership behaviors. These are just some that came up in Richard's interview with Barbara.

It’s a mistake to assume that some people are not natural born leaders. There are behaviors you can learn to help improve your effectiveness, and what others would describe as leadership. You may not be good at them. You may not like them. And you may not know how to do them when you start. You can try, and practice, and learn from your mistakes. And lead.