WHAT IS SECRET OF LEADERSHIP? AMERICAN SURVEY

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 October 1948, Page 8

WHAT IS SECRET OF LEADERSHIP? AMERICAN SURVEY

What makes leadership? Professor W. H. Crowley, of Ohio State University, U.S.A., once defined a leader as “an individual who is moving in a particular direction, and who succeeds in inducing others to follow after him.” He calls a “headman,” by contrast, “an individual, who, became of ability or prestige, has attained to a position of leadership.” In an article in Sales . Management, an American marketing magazine, Dr James F. Bender, the director of the National Institute for Human Relations, quotes a group of authorities on questions which can help us to understand the character of the thing known as “leadership”— among them: 1 . i Is leadership a specialised ability oi trait? , ~ . No It is the result of many traits in the individual as well as demands from groups. , „ . “Ability to deal with people” is perhaps the outstanding trait and demand, but it as yet has not been reduced to quantitive terms. Some years ago, psychologists proposed that intelligence be described at three levels: abstract, manual, social. They were not successful in isolating, and therefore measuring, social intelligence. Do certain traits identify leaders, regardless of their social position? Yes. Twelve phychological tests were given to (a) criminal leaders, (b) officers, (c) student leaders. Four traits were demonstrated to be common to all three groups of leaders: high selfconfidence, motor (muscular) impulsion, finality of judgment, speed of decision. Efficient Readers Are leaders unusually efficient Te<iciers Yes. According to results based on The Ohio State University Study Performance Test, leaders in the business world excel in (1) speed of silent reading, (2)' paragraph analysis, (3) reading in forms other than the sentence, e.g., graphs, figures, (4) recognising foreign expressions often encountered in English reading matter, (5) study habits.

Is there one outstanding ability more often mentioned by business leaders than any other? Yes. In a study based on answers to a questionnaire received from 55 business leaders, selected from America’s 100 largest business, industrial, and financial organisations, 54 put good speaking ability first among a list of recognised “executive tools.”

Do leaders reveal more “self-display” than others?

Yes. Some psychologists call “selfdisplay” an instinct. Leaders thus “instinctively love to stand out from their fellows, to outdistance and outclass them. And the qualities of leadership are not infrequently stimulated by this competition with others, for place, power, distinction.” Is’ it true that leaders score high in tact and humour?

Yes. Tact, defined as a sense of proportion, and humour as a sense of disproportion, help the leader to maintain objectivety in reaching decisions and lurthering good human relations. They Work Hard Do leaders in the business world attribute their success to certain capacities? Yes. 150 business leaders rated four capacities as accounting for their success in large part. These were mentioned in descending order of frequency, as given here: ability to handle people, ability to think, capacity to assume responsibility, inner drive. Do leaders have a knack of getting more out of subordinates than they knew they had in them?

Yes. Because leaders are keen judges of human nature. They do not underestimate nor overestimate their subordinates. Leaders are able to get men to work well because they practise the psychology of human motivation. The typical leader “sees just where they (subordinates) will be most serviceable.”

Are business leaders a hard-working group? Yes. According to results of a nationwide study, business leaders are hard workers. Among their significant workhabits:

82.5 per cent, get to the office at 9 a.m. or earlier. 68.7 per cent, leave the office at 5 p.m. or later. 56.1 per cent, spend an hour or less for lunch. 95.9 per cent, work at night at.home more than “seldom.” 78.0 per cent, work on Saturdays in the winter.