Look up any list of bestselling books and chances are at least one title deals with leadership.
People have pondered the topic for millennia but are still chasing a clear answer to the question: what makes a good leader?
That may be because we're asking the wrong question, says business professor Ian Gellatly.
Human beings are complicated. So instead of asking which single attribute fosters leadership, we should be asking which clusters or patterns of human qualities create the best outcomes.
"It's wrong to categorize leaders as always exhibiting a certain style," he says. "Like all of us, they come in a combination of styles."
The good
In a recent study called "Good, Bad, and Ugly Leadership Patterns" published in the Journal of Management, Gellatly and his co-authors looked for precisely those patterns. By surveying followers' perceptions of their leaders, he discovered the optimal pattern was found in those combining transformational, "big-picture" vision with attention to detail — a combination sometimes seen as counterintuitive.
