John was a talented engineer, quietly excelling in his role at a large tech company. His managers appreciated his efforts, but few saw him as anything more than a skilled individual contributor. That all changed when the company implemented a comprehensive leadership potential assessment program. To everyone’s surprise, John’s results revealed exceptional leadership traits—learning agility, tolerance for ambiguity, capacity to problem-solve, and strategic thinking.

Do you feel like you’ve hit a wall in your success – either in your personal life or professional development? Like there’s nowhere else to go but down or sideways? Being stuck and not knowing what to do about it is one of worst feelings in life, no matter who you are and what you do. But the good news is there’s a way to get un-stuck, and it starts with you and your leadership ability!

After all of the years that I’ve worked in leadership, there is one question that resurfaces again and again: Are leaders born or made?

While you can’t ignore that everyone is born with certain traits that will affect leadership abilities, this is not the end of the journey. Part of the challenge as leaders is to understand what those traits are and how to further develop them.