One of the off shoots of the marriage between the academic discipline called sociology and the modern science of management is the increasing amount of research and studies done about leadership qualities. Leadership studies have now been accepted as part and parcel of the study of human resources management.

Leadership has often been defined as the ability to take on calculated risks, make other people join together in resolving the risk and equitably dividing the income generated from taking the risk. Thus leadership involves the ability to think reasonably and clearly, the ability to communicate with others and motivate them to join in an enterprise and a basic sense of honesty and commitment when dealing with common issues.

Basically there has been a lot of discussion about whether these qualities of a good leader is to be attributed to nature or whether they have to be nurtured through conscious efforts on the part of the industries and management faculties. Many arguments have been put in favor of and against both the propositions of nurture and nature.

However, a recent study done by the management experts at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, and South India has confirmed that there are many leadership qualities that have to be effectively nurtured. One team of management experts in the same institute is now in the process of compiling an effective strategy for nurturing leaders.

Of the various factors laid out earlier, it has been found that the ability to take on calculated risks is the hardest to nurture. Some people are born with the tendency and readiness to take up risks. Many others are satisfied with following a secure and safe life style where the element of un predictability is as low as possible. Since risk taking is a result of a certain mind set, it is difficult to generate such an out look through training. However, people can be to a reasonable extent, motivated to take upon calculated risks with a safe margin of error.

Most people like to stick to the patterns and things they know. Most people are wary of change. If given the choice, they would rather continue with the same set of options. There is no much difference between men and women as far as this trait are concerned. This is mainly because people prefer stability to unpredictability. But leaders often are seen as explorers who are agreeable to venture out into the unknown.