Contrary to the famous mantra, "leaders are born," this course on leadership has shed quite some light on the process by which a leader is made. Everyone can become a leader, although the ability may come more naturally to some people more than others. Important to note, however, is the fact that even though leadership abilities may at some point come typically to an individual, there is the need to nurture and fine tune this ability. This is because leadership is a diverse aspect that involves learning how to deal with individuals from different backgrounds and with different personalities. The challenge of leadership thus lies in the ability to influence the given diverse characters into following a given sense of direction, while at the same time ensuring that the rights and opinions of every subject are respected, prompting the leader to undergo a series of leadership nurturing processes.
Throughout the cause of life, the enormous impact strong leaders have on the general wellbeing of the society will always take center stage in informing the success of such a community. This could be in a given organization, the school environment, or the general political leadership. Notwithstanding the area of leadership, it is essential that there be established systems of identifying and nurturing young leaders. It is preparing them for tomorrow. This course has been instrumental in highlighting the role leadership plays in ensuring the success of the aspect of the society which they oversee. Organizations with enterprise leaders, for instance, are reported to being 68% more innovative, and 35% more engaged (Baron & Parent, 2015) . Strong leadership, therefore, is directly linked to an organization's improved performance, as well as its adaptability and ability to satisfy its clients better than organizations with weak forms of leadership. Taking this into account, the main question the course concerned itself with is, "how can leadership potential be identified and developed?"
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The school environment serves as the best avenue for which the future leaders are trained and given the platform to test their skills, thus sharpening these skills. One way the school does so is through developing a success profile for each position. It is no doubt that the classroom and school, like any other social setting, demands leadership to ensure its success. Creating a strong profile for the leadership positions would mean creating a comprehensive profile of what success should be for any given role within the environment (Baron & Parent, 2015) . By listing the skills and behaviors that contribute to the success sought, educators, and the general management are better placed to match students, and other students against the scoreboard. Matching candidates are then shortlisted through conducting behavioral interviews which allows the assessment of past achievements of the candidates. Conducting these assessments is a first step in creating awareness on the part of the candidates by comparing their results to the evaluation of those around them (Baron & Parent, 2015) . At this point, the candidate is made aware of the gifts and abilities they possess, from which point they are introduced into a system that will fine turn these skills and abilities. Depending on the level of the organization in question, candidates can be administered with questionnaires which would require them to evaluate themselves, before the response is used to measure the key characteristics, motivations, and preferences of the leadership candidates objectively. In more controlled environments these questionnaires can be incorporated into the success profile or administered orally during the behavioral interviews. This is because the questionnaires serve the same purpose as the first two models of character and skill evaluation. The primary goal of this step is to raise personal awareness of the candidates on their leadership abilities.
After identifying the leadership potential, the second step that is equally crucial is developing this potential through a series of finetuning. The first step is participating in simulations (Baron & Parent, 2015) . Live simulations, such as trial duties, gives the candidates a glimpse of the real-world challenges of leadership, while at the same time assessing their judgment and adaptability in a more controlled setting. Having gained a glimpse of the problems of leadership, these young leaders should then be placed in adapting programs which are specific to their development needs. This step is crucial in understanding the candidate's strengths and opportunities for growth, before being introduced to a variety of learning approaches. The learning approach should be engaging to offer a variety of opportunities, such as leadership workshops and cross-training sessions (Baron & Parent, 2015) . Such an avenue allows the young leader to brainstorm and interact with other leaders in the making, as well as seasoned leaders.
In conclusion, it is essential to observe that leadership is a process and a venture that requires enough investment, both financially and timewise. In a world that is becoming increasingly competitive, it is crucial that leaders know how to adapt to these changing times, as well as how to deal with the diverse population, especially in the workplace which contains individuals from all walks of life. It is not enough for one to be kind, outgoing, self-driven, or ambitious for them to make a good leader, it is critical that their critical thinking ability and other logical spheres of leadership are developed as well, to ensure an assertive but kind leader. Such a leader should not be dictatorial, and neither should he be weak and timid, for such a leader easily cows in the face of pressure, which is what the society is all about. There is the need, therefore, to incorporate the natural leadership traits with skills acquired through training to prepare the leader for the tough role of real-life leadership.
References
Baron, L., & Parent, É. (2015). Developing authentic leadership within a training context: Three phenomena supporting the individual development process. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 22 (1), 37-53.
