Leadership skills: Conclusions and future directions

Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, and Fleishman have argued that leadershi p can be understood in terms of knowledge, problem-solving skills, solution construction skills, and social judgment needed to solve organizational pr oblems. In this article, we review the results obtained in a series of inve stigations intended to examine this proposition. We begin by reviewing the central implications of this skills-based model of leader performance. The strengths and limitations of the available evidence bearing on this model a re discussed along with some potential directions for future research. Rese arch directions are considered with respect to model development and refine ment, linkages to other models of leadership, and potential practical appli cations. It is argued that this kind of skills-based model may provide a vi able new perspective for understanding leader performance-one particularly appropriate for the dynamic, knowledge-based industries of the twenty-first century.