"Effective leaders are not born, they are built!"
Very few people dare disagree to this statement. But, having worked in corporate for a decade and half and running my own consulting firm for the same period -- which gave me the opportunity to meet and assess more than a few thousand professionals so far - I fail to agree.
I don't think you can make a lion out of a goat, even through imparting the best of behavioral trainings that you can ever think of designing and conducting for humans on earth. No way!
Why not the corporate world, and those leadership coaches, try to realize that there has to be a minimum level of intelligence required for bursting out of the roof of mediocrity; and the fact, that not all possess that essential quality to making it to the top?
Yes, a billion dollar plus industry of 'Leadership Development' can't afford to take this question head on for obvious reason. Selling hope is more important than accepting reality. It's all about financials, sadly!
Practice makes one perfect, sounds emotionally so inspirational, but, not everything is everyone's cup of tea, must be made clear in the beginning. Why to fool people with false hope? Why to show them a dream that doesn't belong to them? Why to cheat people with a false promise that can never be honored?
Having seen so many corporate lions and a greater number of goats in my career, spanning over a period of close to three decades, I feel bad about watching those false promises being made to hundreds of professional who would never make it to the top. No, it is not their mistake, but something that they don't have in-built.
When we know, and so clearly, that everyone can never become a leader, why to show them a dream that's not achievable? Why not make them understand the importance of the role of a follower, that, in my opinion, is equally important? What's a leader, without true followers? Nothing!
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