This research paper examines the degree to which successful leadership can be traced to natural (i.e genetic) or environmental influences such as education, training and experience. Many different types of leadership exist, business, military, moral, political, etc. The focus of this paper is on military leadership in times of war when the stakes are high and the outcome in terms of victory or defeat is generally apparent.
The skills, talents and qualities which are associated with successful military leadership are fairly easy to identify, their origins much less so. Education, training and experience are all indispensable in a successful military leader, yet intangible qualities appear in most instances to be traceable more to the nature, personality and temperament of successful warrior-leaders which may owe as much to birth and genetics as to upbringing. The only sensible conclusion is that nature and nurture are both important in the development of an effective military leader.
The ultimate test of success or failure in war is victory or defeat. Yet some of history's most successful commanders have experienced defeat, Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo, Erwin Rommel at El Alamein and Douglas MacArthur at Bataan. They were defeated for different reasons, usually because of circumstances wholly or partially outside their control. Napoleon once said that in picking key officers, he would rather select a lucky general than a competent one. Something more, therefore, must be present other than victory in battle in judging how able a military leader is.
The official American Army definition of senior military leadership is "the art of direct and indirect influence and the skill of creating the conditions of organizational success to accomplish missions effectively" (Department of the Army 3).
Leadership Qualities and Their Origin
Military Skills. To direct the efforts of men in battle, General Omar Bradley said a command...