Strengths of the Trait Perspective

The strengths of the trait perspective are its:

1. consistency with popular conceptions of leaders and leadership;
2. strong research foundation;
3. focus on occupants of leadership positions; and
4. benchmarking value for judging who may and may not be good leaders.

Weaknesses of Trait Perspective

The weaknesses include its:

1. absence of a definitive list of distinguishing characteristics;
2. relative inattention to situational factors;
3. encouragement of subjective interpretations of what is important to successful leadership;
4. limited understanding it provides of the relationship of traits to performance outcomes and the implication that what contributes to emergence also accounts for effectiveness; and
5. restricted value in training leaders.