Test Of A Good Leader

How can an individual's leadership potential be determined? That question is at the heart of an Air Force attempt to develop a standardized test to gauge the leadership qualities of prospective cadets at the Air Force Academy. At the Air Force's request, the Gallup Organization is meeting with officers to get their views on what it takes to get their views on what it takes to be a leader.It will then develop a sample multi-choice test designed to measure a prospective student's innate leadership abilities. If the test is determined to have merit, prospective cadets could be taking a leadership test by 2009. The best way to gauge leadership in high school teens is to do what most universities including the academy already do, look at the school, church and community activities in which the student is active, and role the student has played in those organizations. But the test is likely to be better, or at least more consistent, than another method the academy uses to gauge leadership potential, asking volunteers mostly former students and officers - to meet with interested high school kids and make a judgment based on gut instinct of 1,700 people must vary widely. But one wonders why anyone thinks students as smart as academy cadets won't be able to figure out the right answers on a multiple choice test of leadership ability. There's nothing wrong with developing another tool by which to determine which prospective students are best suited to the academy and to future positions of leadership in the Air Force. But Air Force officials should view the results of these tests with a healthy degree of skepticism, go slow in implementing them, and put a great deal more weight on the tangible evidence of each candidate's leadership skills.