领导者是天生的，还是后天修炼的？你是否能意识到自己的领导潜力？一个跟随者能不能升华为领导者？你在乎吗？其实，你应该在乎才对。不管是在自己身上，还是在别人身上，有能力辨认出领导潜能，对以每一个人都非常关键。因为有时真的容易被人蒙蔽，或被自己蒙蔽。
追随领导者
我遇到那个想要剪掉我头发的女人的时候，她十九岁，穿着很哥特式，染着黑发戈特打着舌钉。不过，如果你知道自己想要的是什么，你就能看出，她身上一种很多人不具备的能力。
今天——大概九年之后——她开了一家自己的发廊，嫁给了一个勤奋的家伙，还生了个刚会走路的孩子。没有哥特式衣着，没有染发，没有到处穿孔。难道她真的改变了？还是只是经过了那种人们常说的无法逃避和避免的被叫做“成长”的阶段？
当我还是德克萨斯仪器厂的一个年轻的工程师的时候，我穿着破着大洞的牛仔裤和球鞋去上班，目中无人，日上三竿才起床（公平点说，我熬夜工作），即便是非正式的“讲话”也让位很为难。我曾经试着写了一份产品规格说明书，结果我的老板叫我“文盲”。
不过，不少高级管理层人士对我的职业生涯都满怀期待。虽然我穿着邋遢，行为不良，但是他们还是看到我身上的什么特质。
你能认出追随者吗？
另一方面来讲，我雇佣过一些聪很明、具有天赋和才华的员工，但他们身上却缺少某些东西。我知道，他们会一级级的被提升，但他们不会成为最高级别的领导者。除非是一个刚起步的公司，而且有一个强有力的首席执行官可以让他们 “跟随”。
他们是喜欢谈论有趣的投资、谈论自己，以及自己的职业生涯规划的一群人。其中有些人已经有了一个建立自己公司的蓝本，并在积攒一些有利条件。但肯定的是，当你多年再看这些人时，他们还是一事无成，而且还有“很多借口”。
差异万岁
我还可以据需举无数的例子，但这些例子只能说明一个问题：那就是，领导潜能是能够被看出来的。但这种能力并不明显，也不是很容易做到，而且如果对象是自己，那就更加棘手了。虽然有一些相关的性格特征的确是遗传的，但领导潜能，确实是在你成长的同时被开发培养出来的，也就是说，在你到达了就业年龄是，这种领导特征，就已经是定型了的。
但是，这并不是一个定论，即你身上有着领导潜能。这还取决于你的事业生涯里你的决定和行为，还有一些外部因素，包括运气等。
但是嘿，如果你没有领导潜能，那也没什么大不了的。事实远非如此。领导者需要追随者。他们的相互关系是一个成功企业的重要因素。此外，追随者能够获得巨大的、报酬丰厚的职业成功，并且能赚来很多钱。他们只是没有自己动手来为商业世界添上缤纷的一笔而已。这就是生活。
对我来说，还有一个更重要的问题：如果你有选择，你是选择有领导潜力但自己却不知道，还是没有领导潜力却很自知？你会如何选择？我会选择后者。那么至少，我还能有个机会接受自己。这使人想起从老子《道德经》里的一句话：知人者智，自知者明，胜人者有力，自胜者强。
英文原文：
Are leaders born or made? Can you recognize leadership potential? Can a follower become a leader? Do you care? Well, you should. Recognizing leadership potential, in yourself and in others, is critical for each and every one of you. And it’s all-too-easy to get fooled … and to fool yourself.
Follow the leader
When I met the woman who cuts my hair, she was 19 and dressed semi-goth with dyed black hair and a tongue stud. Still, if you knew what to look for, you could tell she had a certain quality that most people don’t possess.
Today – maybe nine years later – she owns her own hair salon, is married to a hard-working guy, and they have their first toddler. No goth, no dyed hair, no piercings. Did she really change, or just go through a more or less inevitable transition somewhat akin to “growing up?”
When I was a young engineer at Texas Instruments, I wore torn jeans and sneakers to work, partied like nobody’s business, stumbled in around mid-morning (to be fair, I worked late), and even informal “presentations” terrified me. And when I tried to write a product specification, my boss called me “illiterate.”
Still, more than a few senior managers took an interest in my career. Through the bad clothes and bad behavior, they must have seen something.
Can you spot the follower?
On the flip-side, I’ve had employees who were smart, gifted, and talented, but something was missing. I knew they’d rise through the management ranks, but wouldn’t make it to a top-level, leadership position, except perhaps in a startup with a strong founding CEO they could “follow.”
Then there are the folks who talk a good game, all full of themselves and what they plan to accomplish in their careers. Some of them even have an executive parent and every advantage growing up. But sure enough, when your paths cross many years later, they have lots of excuses for why they never “made it.”
Vive la difference
I can go on and on with examples, but they all lead to the same answers: Yes, it is possible to recognize leadership potential, but it’s not always obvious or easy to do, and it’s very tricky to see it in oneself. And while certain related traits are indeed inherited, leadership potential is largely developed as you grow up. That said, by the time you reach employment age, it’s pretty much determinate.
Now, that doesn’t mean it’s a foregone conclusion that you’ll reach your leadership potential. That depends on your decisions and behavior throughout your career, not to mention a host of external factors, including luck.
And hey, if you don’t have it, that’s not a crime. Far from it. Leaders need followers. Theirs is a critical interrelationship critical to successful organizations. Moreover, followers can have great, rewarding careers and make tons of dough. They just don’t get to paint the business world with their very own colored crayon. C’est la vie.
To me, there’s an even more important question: If you had a choice, to have leadership potential and never know it, or to not have it and know it, which would you choose? I’d choose the latter. At least then, I’d have a chance to come to terms with who I am. Which brings to mind a proverb from the Tao Teh Ching by Lao Tzu:
He who knows men is clever;
He who knows himself has insight.
He who conquers men has force;
He who conquers himself is truly strong.
作者：Steve Tobak is a marketing and strategy consultant based in Silicon Valley. He’s a 20-plus year high-tech industry veteran and former senior executive of a number of public and private companies. He also wrote the popular blog Train Wreck for CNET. When he’s not airing corporate America’s dirty laundry and helping companies solve their problems, Steve likes to play with gadgets and animals and drive his wife crazy. Find out more at Invisor.net.
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