Everyone is a leader, yet not everyone gets there.
Many fall for the trap of an addiction like alcohol, nicotine, sex, tanning or their phone. As it turns out, there is a connection between people who have addictive tendencies and those who are great leaders.
Great leaders have skills like; driven, passionate, dedicated, out-of-the-box-thinking, stress-management, change-management and communication. Addicts are looked at by society in general as weak souls who always give in to temptation. The truth it, addicts and leaders have kind of the same personality traits.
Leaders and addicts are both really great learners. They both have a strong drive and dedication, and they both will not settle with the reward; they want (and need) more to satisfy themselves. They are both risk-takers and they do not accept (and they challenge) the status quo. They are also both non-conformists, as they seek behavior that is not accepted in society, which makes them rebels (and innovators).
A leader is obsessed with healthy behavior that helps in the long run, while the addict just took a wrong path and got addicted to unhealthy behavior.
People who turn out to be a leader uses their drive, their passion, their creativity, their dedication, their need for risk, their innovating powers to build up themselves. People who turn out to be an addict allow these skills to break them off, which makes them less productive in the long run and unable to lead.
So, if you find yourself to be addicted to any substance or behavior, do not despair! You can decide to use your skills to become the great leader you can be. You just need to know how to use your skills to your advantage and not for your destruction.
Basically, you need to become addicted (obsessed) about self-improvement and success. If you can get addicted to the unhealthy behavior, you sure do have the possibility to get addicted to behavior that build you up. This 2017 article by Charles Sledge might help.
Other references:
http://alcoholrehab.com/alcohol-rehab/addictive-personality-and-leadership/
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24addicts.html
http://blog.sandglaz.com/link-between-leadership-and-addictive-personality/
