Leadership 101

Dr. Warren Bennis, professor of management at the School of Business Administration of the University of Southern California, developed a study to determine what makes a “superleader.”
After interviewing 90 leaders, including corporate executives, public officials, coaches of winning teams, and university presidents, Dr. Bennis identified five common traits:

1. Vision – the capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired state of affairs that inspires people to perform.

2. Communication – the ability to portray the vision clearly and in a way that enlists the support of followers.

3. Persistence – the ability to stay on course, regardless of the obstacles encountered.

4. Empowerment – the capacity to create a structure that harnesses the energies and abilities of others to get the desired results.

5. Organizational learning – the capacity to monitor performance, learn from past actions, and use the resulting knowledge to set a new course for the future. The bottom line: The average superleader earned about $300,000 a year.