Leadership experts aren’t. Leadership should be a matter of lifelong study. Leaders (those who end up in positions of responsibility and authority) should be students of leadership (the ability to motivate a group of people toward a common goal.) To be a lifelong student means that one has never quite arrived at the level of leadership “expert.” There are always more lessons to learn. Be wary, therefore about those who tout to be leadership experts. It is much more of a journey than a destination.
Leadership is life. The lessons that one learns as a leader and in the practice of leadership forge principles which are also essential for success in marriage, parenthood, business partnerships, friendships. The opposite is also often true although we seldom make the observation. For example, if I can figure out how to successfully parent a child though two decades of development, I can also learn to adapt my leadership style to different situations and individuals within the context of organizational development.
Leadership is a matter of nature, nurture and “knocks.” There are certain natural personality types that are more common in leaders. For example, in a study of 270 senior officers at Army War College, Herbert Barber determined that 71% were of the four Myers Briggs Personality Types that included “TJ:” “Thinking” vs. “Feeling” (whether one values impersonal logic or personal feeling in processing information or making decisions) and “Judging” vs. “Perceiving” (whether one analyzes and judges the external environment or reacts to it with flexibility and spontaneity). Certain personality types are more prone to end up engaged in leadership. Alternative types are not excluded from leadership (or in the present example, I would be!)
Strong nurturing environments also promote the development of leadership. There are numerous examples of leaders whose childhood was supporting and nurturing. Someone puts the idea in a child’s head that he or she can be more, do more, accomplish more than imagined. World renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson points to the influence of his mother and family as does President Obama. General Douglass MacArthur’s mother “Pinky” followed him to West Point and lived in a hotel nearby while he was a cadet.
But leadership is also a matter or responding to “knocks:” the knocks of opportunity or the knocks of life. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his time when it comes.” When an opportunity to lead presents itself, leaders step up. Similarly when trials or difficulties come, the “knocks” of life, the true leader separates him or herself from the pack, by demonstrating courage, perseverance and purpose.
Some leaders are born. Some are raised to be leaders and are shaped by the influence of family and friends. Others are shaped by the circumstances of their lives. The best leaders are always students: learning honor with humility in the context of integrity and faith.
Chuck Callahan Henry V 4.3 – Lead from the Front https://henryv43.wordpress.com/
Henry V 4.3 
This is an excellent summary of what makes someone PERSONALLY skilled and equipped to lead. But perhaps more essential to separating the greatest or most effective leaders, who often have extremely diverse styles and sometimes end up leading momentously and effectively even DESPITE their lack of personal leadership skills, is the substantive greatness of the idea to which they doggedly attach themselves and passionately believe in. Hitching yourself to the power of a big idea who’s time has truly come, whether in historic movements on grand stages (think Luther in religion, Napolean in war) or in smaller organizations and cultures, is I believe ultimately more determinative in causing true leadership of influence at the strategic level rather than merely being good at the tactics of marshalling those ideas through personal leadership skill. At least so says this idealist ENTP chaplain.
There is a story that reflects the folly of presumption, which we often see in self-proclaimed “experts” of all varieties. I do not know the source and it may be apocryphal but it is nonetheless worth telling.
Albert Einstein met a young, talented engineering graduate student one afternoon. The young man didn’t recognize the older gentleman and so, in the course of the conversation, asked what he did. Einstein replied, “I am a student of physics”. “Really” said the younger man, “I passed that class years ago.”
Sir, fantastic presentation on leadership today to our class here at AMEDD. I enjoyed this article very much and additional things you have here.