Build a Better Boss

Two weeks ago, this column discussed how corporate managers can use criticism to maximize their employees' performance. But what about improving the boss's own performance? Is there any way of predicting which leadership styles are likely to be most effective, and which ones ineffective? There is, according to a growing body of academic research. Studies both in the United States and in Canada have shown that the personality of a senior executive can have a …

…will never know how, for example, the recently departed CEO of Molson, Mickey Cohen, stacked up against Paul Stern, the former boss of Nortel, on the charisma scale-certainly neither company was a stellar performer at the time of the study. Nevertheless, the researchers concluded that between 15 and 25 per cent of the variation in profitability among the companies was accounted for by the leadership qualities of their CEOs. Investors and would-be leaders take note: charisma counts.