Issue: Leaders are created by the demands that are placed on them.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the
statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and
supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or
might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


Essay:

A leader is the one who can make or break the situation. We all know the adage that goes “With great power comes great responsibility” the one who lives up to his responsibility and works things out is considered a great leader. The prompt recommends placing the person in a demanding situation would beget the leader in him. In my opinion, I have two reasons to completely agree and argue that leaders are not born with that skill, they are made by placing them in challenging positions.

First, demanding situations show the potential of anyone who is put in such situations. For example, why there is always a position of vice-captain offered to a younger player? Or why a younger player is given a chance to lead the cricket team when playing against an inexperienced team? One, he will get accustomed to dealing with pressure and one day this experience will help when he plays at the highest level of the game. Second, it shows whether a player can handle situations at relatively less pressured situations. If he cannot, he needs to be in such situations until he can. Placing people under demand can be analogous to the process of making iron convenient for usage; until a raw iron is heated, it cannot be workable. In the same way, leaders are not created without the demands placed on them.

Further, until a person deals with the challenging situations placed on him, he will not have the experience to deal with them. Having no experience is the main reason why some fail to lead a team. For instance, there is a reason why most of the political leaders are seniors in the party. Since they have dealt with similar situations in their career of at least twenty years. So that when a problem arises, it is most probable that the person might have undergone a similar situation in the past and provided a solution, irrespective of the outcome of the solution, knows a better way to deal with this problem.

Of course, some argue that demanding situations can often lead to stress, which would impair the leadership ability and decision-making skills of the person. However, isn’t that precisely not the function of a leader; to manage things around him and make the best out of them? Stress management is one of the main qualities of a good leader. Therefore, the greater the magnitude of hardships a person endure the stronger his leadership skill will be shaped.