{"id":33314,"date":"2022-12-13T20:47:20","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T01:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/?p=33314"},"modified":"2022-12-13T20:57:35","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T01:57:35","slug":"can-anyone-lead-or-are-only-certain-people-born-with-a-special-leadership-gene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/2022\/12\/13\/can-anyone-lead-or-are-only-certain-people-born-with-a-special-leadership-gene\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Anyone Lead Or Are Only Certain People Born With A Special Leadership Gene?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>A Behavior-Changing Parasite<\/h2>\n<p>Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite which makes it home in rodents.\u00a0 This particular parasite causes a behavioral change in which they have a decreased fear of cats.\u00a0 As part of the ecosystem, the reckless rodents are subsequently eaten by your furry felines.\u00a0 Unknowingly, the parasite is then transferred to the cats and that is when things get really interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Toxoplasma gondii becomes embedded in its new host’s muscle and brain tissue.\u00a0 Cougars then kills the cats and wolves kill both the cougars and cats.\u00a0 As a result, wolves, specifically in Yellowstone National Park, become the ultimate hosts for the Toxoplasma gondii parasite.<\/p>\n<p>So how does this particular parasite affect the actions of wolves?\u00a0 Much like the rodents, the wolves become much more aggressive and engage in risk-taking behavior.<\/p>\n<h2>A Ground-Breaking Study<\/h2>\n<p>Connor Meyer and Kira Cassidy, wildlife ecologists at the University of Montana studied the blood samples of 229 wolves.\u00a0 What they discovered was astonishing!!!\u00a0 Meyer said, \u201cWe got that result and we just open-mouth stared at each other.\u00a0 This is way bigger than we thought it would be.\u201d \u00a0<strong>Infected wolves were <em>11 times more likely<\/em> to leave their birth families and <em>46 times more likely<\/em> to become pack leaders!!!\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Their study was published in the November 24, 2022 edition of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/commsbio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Communications Biology<\/a>, <\/em>an open access journal from Nature Portfolio publishing high-quality research, reviews and commentary in all areas of the biological sciences.<\/p>\n<h2>The Important Leadership Questions<\/h2>\n<p>So if wolves have a parasite and genetic condition which makes them 46 times more prone to leadership, does the same apply to humans?\u00a0 The study forces us to ask two age old questions.\u00a0 The first question is can anyone lead or are only certain people born with a special leadership gene?\u00a0 The second questions is does leadership happen by nature or nurture?<\/p>\n<p>The fact is there are some people who would appear to be natural leaders.\u00a0 They have the charismatic personalities, big brains, giftedness, and an inclination towards leadership we wish we all have.\u00a0 But smart people never confuse inclination with identity.\u00a0 John Maxwell is correct, leadership is not a genetic birthrite, it is influence.\u00a0 Therefore, leadership can be caught and taught.<\/p>\n<p>The older I’ve gotten the more I have come to realize that everyone is a leader because everyone has some level of influence.\u00a0 We don’t live in silos.\u00a0 Our lives are intertwined and we impact others.\u00a0 Also, if nothing else, we must practice the most difficult leadership of all – self-leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, people who identify as Christians have a responsibility to live their lives in such a way as to lead others to Christ.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Toxoplasma gondii appears to cause wolves to become leaders.\u00a0 Fortunately, human beings don’t require a parasite.\u00a0 We are all leaders.\u00a0 All it requires is accepting the responsibility that comes with our God-given influence and self-leadership.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/h6O8tP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-32504 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/w_bril07c8.jpg?resize=232%2C300&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/w_bril07c8.jpg?resize=232%2C300&ssl=1 232w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/w_bril07c8.jpg?resize=790%2C1024&ssl=1 790w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/w_bril07c8.jpg?resize=768%2C995&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/w_bril07c8.jpg?resize=1185%2C1536&ssl=1 1185w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/w_bril07c8.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My latest eBook is available for download. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/h6O8tP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><em>The Top 65 Leadership Quotes Of 2022 Part 1<\/em><\/a> is a resource every leader should have. \u00a0Great quotes bring clarity and put into words who we intuitively feel as leaders. \u00a0They give us wisdom and insights which advance the mission and vision of our organizations. \u00a0This eBook includes thoughts and insights from leaders like Warren Buffett, Nick Saban, James Clear, Dawn Staley, Jurgen Klopp, Jerry Seinfeld, and even Ted Lasso. \u00a0This resource will take you about 10 minutes to read but a lifetime to apply. \u00a0You will want to stop and ponder the implications of each quote. \u00a0Click <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/h6O8tP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">HERE<\/a> or on the image provided for immediate download!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Behavior-Changing Parasite Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite which makes it home in rodents.\u00a0 This particular parasite causes a behavioral change in which they have a decreased fear of cats.\u00a0 As part of the ecosystem, the reckless rodents are subsequently eaten by your furry felines.\u00a0 Unknowingly, the parasite is then transferred to the cats and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":1,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/wolves_1670981052.jpg?fit=1280%2C857&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33314"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33325,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33314\/revisions\/33325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briandoddonleadership.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}