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Date Submitted: 11/20/2015 04:29 PM
Few characteristics are more valued, or valuable, in modern
Western society than intelligence. As Herrnstein and Murray’s
(1994) comprehensive analysis revealed, in addition to its link to
job performance, intelligence is associated with many social advantages,
including employment, economic self-sufficiency, affluence,
educational achievement, marital stability, legitimacy, and
lawful behavior. Schmidt and Hunter (2000) went so far as to
proclaim, “Intelligence is the most important trait or construct in
all of psychology, and the most ‘successful’ trait in applied psychology”
(p. 4). The value that society places on intelligence is no
more evident than in people’s views of the traits and skills of
leaders. In a Gallup Poll before the 2000 presidential election, 90%
of Americans responded that understanding complex issues was
extremely or very important in determining for which candidate
they would vote. Lord, Foti, and De Vader (1984) found that of 59
characteristics such as honesty, charisma, and kindness, intelligence
was the most prototypical of a leader. Indeed, Lord et al.
found that intelligence was the only attribute that is seen as a
critical feature that must be possessed by all leaders.
Reviews of the literature on the traits of effective leaders have
reinforced the importance of intelligence to leadership (e.g., House
& Aditya, 1997). Intelligence has emerged as an important characteristic
of leaders in most qualitative reviews of the literature
(Bass, 1990; Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991; Mann, 1959; Stogdill,
1948). Other reviewers of this literature, though, have been more
equivocal. For example, Fielder (2002) concluded, “Intellectual
abilities . . . do not predict leadership performance to any appreciable
degree” (p. 92).
To more accurately determine the relationship between traits
and leadership, Lord, De Vader, and Alliger (1986) used metaanalysis
to aggregate the results of studies on the trait theory of
leadership. In...