Better Leaders Through Science

“I don’t know if I’m impressed there are so many people here at 9am, or disturbed there are so many people here at 9am.” That was Michigan State psychologist Fred Morgenson’s wry comment at this morning’s session on leadership, chaired by Purdue’s Deidra Schleicher. Bruce Avolio of the University of Washington led off, describing a life-span approach to leader development and raising the question: How important is serendipity (“happy accidents”) in the creation of effective leaders? His answer: Life develops leaders, but we should throw in some training to help it along. Leadership trainers need to examine and develop leadership at the individual level–everyone has a different pattern of development. He referred to this as the “Pandora effect”–as in, one thing builds on another on another.

Morgenson focused on the nature of the team leader. Events challenge teams and leaders by creating uncertainty and disrupting routines. He discussed how events and challenges affect teams, and noted the difficulty in knowing when and how leaders should intervene. 

-Bob Nolan