Were they born to be big in business?

NOW this may look suspiciously like a fat cat's charter to you. According to the latest piece of research from Mori, it appears that business leaders are born, not made. The ambition and drive to win that marks out the best from the rest seems to be inherent and not something that can be taught.

Fat Cats have long justified their inflated salaries by saying if companies want the best, they have to pay for them. If top business minds don't get paid what they're worth, they will go elsewhere.

This assumes there is an elite of business leaders that possess abilities lesser people don't have, no matter what training they're offered.

But is that really the case?

According to the Mori survey of nearly 105 business leaders - chief executives and board-level directors of the country's top firms - our captains of industry first began to demonstrate their flair for leadership when very young. When they were still at school, in fact.

Almost all showed an early desire to be in charge. Nearly 90 per cent of those surveyed held at least two positions of authority - such as head boy or girl, prefect or sports captain - while at school. Two thirds said they had always wanted to lead, and almost 60 per cent said they had been ambitious from an early age.

Asked why they were given leadership roles at school, one said: "Because I was a pushy little brat! I had a certain amount of energy, capacity and enthusiasm." Another remarked: "I am somebody who tries to get something to happen. If there is a gap, I will step in."

No doubt their drive and ambition did help them climb to the top. But you should beware of reading too much into the Mori survey, warns Gordon Gibb, Flamingoland boss and former Evening Press business personality of the year.

Gordon admits he had a hand climbing the greasy pole - his company is a family business. "As one of my friends said, I started as general manager and worked my way up. There was a massive helping hand," he says.

Nevertheless, he has shown plenty of business flair. Does he accept some people are born to be business leaders, and others aren't?

No - and there are a number of reasons why you shouldn't draw that conclusion from the Mori survey, he says. First, it seems to have focussed mainly on corporate firms - ignoring the fact that the qualities needed to climb the greasy corporate pole may be different from those needed to be an entrepreneur or to run your own one-man band.

More important, however, is the way the business climate is changing. Historically, business leaders who rose to the top tended to be bullish, charismatic characters with the drive and ambition to get things done.

"Now it is definitely a softer character that is required - empowering, nurturing almost."

Improved educational opportunities have also levelled the playing field, he says - meaning more people have the chance to develop the skills to take them to the top.

"More than anything what has altered is the class system. There used to be upper, middle and lower classes. Now I would say there are only two classes - the working class and the claiming class.

"The Labour market is extremely flexible and fluid, and if someone has the right character and abilities there is nothing to stop them progressing. Those abilities can be taught and developed."

North Yorkshire businessman Iain Dale agrees.

Drive and ambition may be qualities you are born with, says the former boss of Filey-based Dale Electronic International, who is now a business consultant and Government adviser, but it would be a mistake to confuse them with leadership. They may help a businessman make it to the top of the tree: but there is more to good leadership than ambition and charisma.

If you don't believe that, look at Adolf Hitler, he says. "He was a great leader in some ways, but an awful man and he led people in totally the wrong direction."

In some ways, Iain follows the classic profile of the early achiever. He was a prefect as a boy at Scarborough College.

"But never head boy," he says. "I played soccer for the school, and played cricket for the school. That's not necessarily anything to do with leadership; I was a member of a team. But it is just as important to be a member of a team. Many leaders have become unstuck because the troops don't follow."

In today's business climate - at least in the UK - displaying too much naked ambition can harm your career prospects, he says.

"We're a fairly modest business nation. The international sphere does tend to be ambitious but the UK business community is much more gentlemanly. It is really about getting the balance right. No one here likes a nakedly ambitious businessman. The community tends to bring them down." The way we tend to pillory anyone perceived as a fat cat is an excellent example of that.

Good business leadership is vital, Iain says - it can inspire and motivate the workforce. But he agrees with Gordon Gibb that it can be learned. "That's why many big businesses run leadership courses," he says.

Rosie Pressland, principal of Pocklington Montessori School and another former Evening Press business personality of the year, regards herself as an entrepreneur rather than a business leader. A serial entrepreneur, in fact.

"I started by selling lemonade on the steps of our Glasgow tenement when I was four," she says. "When I was eight, I was organising shows on our council estate and charging people ha'penny to come in. As a born entrepreneur, I see business opportunities in everything."

She believes there is a fundamental difference between business people and entrepreneurs. The former can develop their skills over time, while the latter are definitely born, not made.

"For most entrepreneurs, it's not about the money. It's about having passion and vision," she says. "Business people don't tend to take risks to get to the top, whereas entrepreneurs will put their neck on the line.

"I think it's probably the business leaders who were head boys and head girls at school. Entrepreneurs don't tend to conform like that, even at an early age. Academic success is not essential though. Tom Stoppard was a straight E student when he was at Pocklington School but it didn't stop him becoming one of the country's best playwrights."

Rosie went through the traditional education system and got a degree, but she was never in the top flight and was always regarded as a bit of a rebel.

"Entrepreneurs don't tend to go along with the crowd," she says. "They constantly question what is regarded as the norm. Young people who successfully fit in with the school system are not likely to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. It's the ones who question the system, who refuse to fit in that are the ones to watch."

This does not mean, however, that she regards mainstream education as a bad thing for potential entrepreneurs. It gives them something to fight against.

"I can see the entrepreneurs of the future in my school now," Rosie says. "By the age of four their skills are beginning to show. You see it in their approach, their confidence and their communication skills.

"The ability to communicate is absolutely essential in my view. How else are you going to communicate your passion and bring people along with you?"

Motivational guru and professional speaker Clive Gott, who runs Tadcaster-based Lighthouse Training, would agree with that. And not surprisingly, since his job is all about helping people realise their potential, he firmly believes business leaders are made and not born.

"Everyone is born with the same skills, so everyone has the potential to become a successful leader," he says. "Not everyone does. It's what happens to you in your life that determines whether you will fulfil your potential.

"Given the right opportunities and encouragement, anyone can make it to the top. If, on the other hand, their skills are not recognised by their parents and school, they can go unrecognised forever."

His advice to anyone who wants to make it in business is to follow the leader. Put simply, you should find someone who is already doing what you want to do, ask them how they do it and then do it too.

"People spend too much time trying to reinvent the wheel," says Clive. "True leaders in this world wear badges. Among them are badges which say they are always ready to learn and are always available for others. True leaders are not afraid to pass on their knowledge to help someone else."

Fat cats please take note.

Updated: 09:22 Wednesday, January 05, 2005