By CPA Hillary Oonge
“Leadership Is Not Taught, It Is Learned.”
We live in an age of leadership seminars, LinkedIn webinars, and bestselling books promising to unlock the secret sauce of leadership. We sign up, take notes, applaud keynote speakers, and share powerful one-liners on social media. Yet after all this, how many of us truly emerge as better leaders?
The truth is unsettling: Leadership is not something we’re merely taught—it is something we must choose to learn.
Sounds paradoxical? Let me explain.
Leadership, at its core, is not a moment of inspiration, it is a journey of transformation. As John C. Maxwell writes in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “Leadership develops daily, not in a day.” Attending a class or workshop can spark awareness, but without intentional learning and application, transformation never takes root.
Think about it: how many leadership retreats, corporate training, and strategic offsites have we participated in—and yet when we return to our “natural habitat,” we default to the same behaviors? We blame the culture, the system, or the pace of life. But the real issue isn’t the system. It’s that we didn’t commit to the process of learning leadership.
🔁 From Knowledge to Embodiment
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, reminds us: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” Likewise, leadership cannot rely on lofty vision boards or inspiration bursts—it demands structured self-mastery.
To learn leadership is to accept that knowing what to do is not the same as doing it. Leadership is not merely an intellectual exercise, it is discipline, practice, and most importantly, a lifelong journey of learning. While leadership courses and seminars abound, the true embodiment of leadership occurs when aspiring leaders actively seek to learn, internalize, and apply its principles. The Roman philosopher Epictetus once said, “If you want to be a writer, write.” If you want to be a leader, lead—but first, become a student of leadership.
Warren Bennis, a pioneer in leadership studies, put it succinctly: “Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult.” Leadership is not about adopting a set of behaviors for a short period—it is about internalizing principles that shape our hearts, minds, and actions.
Here’s the deal: when we say leadership is taught, we imply passivity. We sit, listen, and wait to be filled. But when we say it is learned, we take responsibility. We reflect. We observe ourselves. We get coached. We fail forward. We practice consistently until the actions, not just the knowledge, become part of who we are.
🧭 The Student of Leadership
When you see me next time, I hope you don’t see a leadership teacher. I hope you see a student of leadership—because that is what I am. And I invite you to be the same.
Leadership is less about being followed and more about being transformed, you have to first become before you be. It’s not a TED Talk—it’s a daily walk. As Harvard’s Ron Heifetz put it, “Leadership is about disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb.” It’s messy, sacrificial, and deeply human.
But there’s beauty in the mess. When we commit to being students of leadership—daily, humbly, and intentionally—we begin to embody what we once only admired.
So the next time you find yourself in a leadership class or workshop, don’t just take notes. Take responsibility. Learn. Unlearn. Relearn. And remember: Leadership isn’t taught to you—it’s something youmust choose to learn, Its in the choice that the magic happens.
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Management consultant, Personal Effectiveness and Leadership Coach.
I am a COO and Partner in charge of management consulting and Outsourced Services (MCOS) at SKM Africa LLP, A community Manager and instructor at FPKE (FinanceProfessionalsKe) and Board Member at Kenya Communities Development Foundation (KCDF)
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Peak Performance | Strategy | Mindset | Execution
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