Ladies and Gentlemen:
Leadership what an important word it is, especially in our current climate of global instability and change. Some may even argue that the world is wanting of good leaders, but politicians are all that we get. However, what is more important in this debate, that is, the question of how do good leaders become good at leadership?, remains unanswered from the other side of the house. Before the negative progresses to rebuke the oppositions case, we would like to briefly review the definitional framework, the thesis and the supporting arguments raised by the opposition in order to refresh your minds about where this debate stands currently.
They have raised the definition that leadership is the processes of influencing the actions of an individual or group to reach goals and leadership is measured by success and effectiveness. We have assumed, since the affirmatives framework was unable to clarify in this area, that success and effectiveness is the distinction that separates leaders of a mediocre kind and the good leaders. In other words, success and effectiveness is the hallmark that differentiates good leaders from the other leaders.
Their thesis was relatively simple to grasp: that leaders are born and not made and that [the most important characters found in all good leaders] are encompassed in a persons [sic] genetic composition which cannot be taught or learned [sic]. To demonstrate this, the opposition raised two main arguments: proof from genetic biology and the Great Man Theory. Further, they gave three more supporting examples, namely, social potency, Nelson Mandela and cognitive capacity. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the repetitive verbosity of the affirmative boiled down to relatively concise terms.
Now, we would like to begin by looking at the oppositions definition and expanding on it. There are two reasons for this: firstly, they have not provided us a clear link between the words leadership and leader and secondly, they have given you a quite stock definition of leadership and we believe we can provide a more-rounded, more-apt definition.
We agree with the Robbins (2001) definition of leadership as raised by the affirmative, but we would to consider in addition the following definitions:
Lead 20) to act as a guide.
Lead 15) to aim and fire a firearm ahead of (a moving target) in order to allow for the travel of the target and time of flight of the bullet or shell in reaching it.
(The Macquarie Dictionary)
Before the affirmative jumps on our selection of the second definition as irrelevant or absurd, we would like to justify its addition into the context of this debate. The reason for the addendum of the aiming connotation is because we believe a leader has to define the location of the goal, to the account for each environmental situation in which he is leading and to take into consideration the amount of time and effort his subordinates would need to exert in order to reach that goal. A leader is a guide, not just one who possesses ability and influence. These connotations, to us, are a more expanded, yet still reasonable, interpretations of Robbins definition.
Secondly, in terms of defining the framework, they have not given us a clear link between leadership and leaders. While there is considerable debate on that link alone, we as the negative would like to simplify and accept Robbins (2001) definition, that leaders consistently exhibit leadership.
Given that we now have waded through and clarified the murky definitional waters that the affirmative have deceitfully used to trap this debate, we would like to consider their case. It consists of two main parts, the polarised belief that leaders are born and not made and secondly, that the main characteristics of good leaders are innate.
Before we are called petty pot shooters, we would like to argue that the first belief, leaders are born and not made is not even the topic proposed because they have clearly forgotten to include the minor, yet all-important word, good. They have been trying to argue a generic case, that leaders (in general) are born not made, a different matter to the topic altogether. However, we will dearly forgive the opposition for their faux pas, and we will continue to believe that the topic includes the word good.
To support their first thesis, the affirmative have enlightened you on the mysteries of genetic biology, namely the hormone serotonin. This wonderful hormone, they have said, improves sociability and controls aggression, and furthermore, its presence in leaders strongly argues the point that it is impossible to be trained or taught to have these biochemical mixtures, which attribute to effective leadership skills. Is that really so, ladies and gentlemen? According to a 2003 article in The Economist, the veracity of this claim can be argued by the study on serotonin itself: Michael McGuire, a neuroscientist of UCLA, who undertook the serotonin studies in high-rank monkeys has shown that the high level [of serotonin] appeared to be the consequence, not the cause of high rank. When a leader was removed from his troops, his serotonin level crashed. As a new leader emerged, his level started to climb until it was twice that of the next dominant male. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, the oppositions reliance on Robbins has clearly caused them to be mistaken. In fact, they are indeed very misinformed on their claim, since Robbins (2001) even admits that the direction of causation isnt really clear. The affirmative are quite daring in that they selectively quote academics and make hyperbolic claims, yet what is peculiar is that they do not dare to present you with the full picture, ladies and gentlemen.
To support their second thesis, the main characteristics of good leaders are innate, the opposition have presented you with the Great Man (or Men) Theory, also known as the trait theory. The negative concedes that traits have an influence on the development of good leaders, and do not rebuke the existence of the Great Man Theory. However, we strongly oppose the affirmatives sole reliance on the theory, when even their main source, Robbins (2001), argues that traits only predict around 10 percent of what makes a successful leader. So where is the other 90 percent, we ask the affirmative? Surely there is something more to traits, as surely the Great Man has other things that make him great than his right of birth alone. The negative will explore more about this notion in our substantive matter.
Before we finish with our consideration of the affirmatives case we would like to review one more point: the lack of consistency and cohesiveness in their theses and subsequent supporting points. What the affirmative failed to realise is that their confused case is self-contradictory: on one hand they say leadership characteristics are entirely innate and hereditary, but on the other, they have said, the influences upon a childs birth and their childhood years has [sic] an impact in further years, whether or not he holds the characteristics of a leader. This, ladies and gentlemen, is their paradoxical (and probably unintentional) support for our argument, that there is more to good leadership than traits and birth alone.
In short, ladies and gentlemen, the oppositions case has left us with a few things, namely the following: one an incomplete definitional framework that required the negatives intervention in clarifying; two their theses were supported by claims which were subsequently rebutted by their own sources (a testament to our dear oppositions honesty in selectively telling the truth); and finally a self-contradictory case. They have neither accurately defined the debate nor their stance, yet they somehow pre-empted our case, saying it cannot be as clear, justifiable and factual as theirs. We do not know where they stand, ladies and gentlemen, but regardless their intellectual arrogance and deceitfulness are blatantly omnipresent.