Abilities and Skills.

 

Much of the early research in leadership characteristics focused on establishing leadership abilities. Although leaders clearly must have some abilities, competencies and skills, these characteristics do not have high correlations to leadership effectiveness. Intelligence in its various forms and technical, interpersonal and cognitive skills have received particular attention.

 

Intelligence

Intelligence is one of the most often used characteristics to describe leaders and is often included in discussions of leadership. It is clear that the complex task of leading requires a person with a cognitive ability to remember collect and integrate information, analyze problems, develop solutions, and evaluate alternatives, all of which are related to traditional definitions of intelligence. For most people, intelligence is a factor in leadership; however, the actual link between intelligence and effectiveness is far from clear as they are in other areas of success. Correlations vary, and many studies suggest that the link is relatively weak. To date, only one leadership theory, the Cognitive Resource Model by Fiedler and Garcia (1987) has used intelligence explicitly as a factor.

 

The relationship, however, may be moderated by many factors. For example, when being competent is important, leaders who are more intelligent might do better but in situations that require interpersonal skills, general intelligence might not be sufficient. The level of leadership also may be a factor. Particularly, intuition may be especially important for leaders at upper organizational levels.