1. Daniel Assouline, the Chairman and co-
founder of UpClick, is a Compassionate
and Charismatic Leader
Daniel Assouline

2.  Leaders can make a difference in the lives of the people they
lead. They provide vision and strategy. They influence their
followers to work towards the achievement of this vision.
Daniel Assouline is the Chairman and co-founder of UpClick.
He is also the CEO of UpClick.com.
 He is a visionary leader with an exceptional ability to develop
a vision for the future. He then aligns his employees with this
vision by communicating it to them and inspiring them to
give their best towards achieving it.

3. Traits versus Behavioral Theories of Leaderships
 Earlier researchers focused on specific traits like intelligence,
charisma, determination, and decisiveness, among others, to
separate leaders from non-leaders.
 All the studies related to trait theory of leadership reached
the conclusion that extraversion was the most important
quality of an effective leader. This is not surprising since
sociable people are better able to assert themselves in a
team.
 It was also argued that leaders should have ample measures
of ambition and energy — an integral part of extraversion.
 Researchers, however, in the later years, seemed less
disinclined to believe that extraversion was an important
trait of a successful leader. They argued that extraversion was
more strongly related to leader emergence than leader
effectiveness.

4.  They believed that Emotional Intelligence (EI) was the
most important trait that distinguished a successful
leader from an unsuccessful one. This aspect,
according to theorists assumes added significance in
the present complex business environment.
 A person cannot make a good leader despite
outstanding training, terrific ideas, confidence, vision,
and thorough understanding of the business, if they do
not have a higher level of EI.
 Empathy is an important constituent of Emotional
Intelligence. Empathetic leaders care for their followers
and their needs. They listen patiently to their problems
and try their level best to find a quick solution to the
issues.
 Knowledgeable and competent workers are the most
important source for a firm to gain competitive
advantage. Empathy breeds loyalty and people will stick

5.  All said and done, trait theories failed to leave a mark when
it came to the all-important question of what makes a good
leader. The argument of its supporters that leaders can be
successfully identified through some common traits failed to
find favor with a majority of academicians and researchers.
 A number of studies identified around 80 leadership traits. A
single individual cannot have all these 80 traits. It was a
pretty confusing state of affairs since no definite conclusion
could be reached as to what are the most important
characteristics that a good leader must possess.
 This, however, in no way implies that the trait theory was a
complete failure when it came to the identification of a good
leader. There are few common traits that are present in all
great leaders.

6.  Daniel Assouline, the Chairman and co-founder of UpClick, is
a leader who scores high when it comes to emotional
intelligence. His organization continues to achieve new
milestones because his employees are loyal and hard
workers.
 This is understandable as the feeling that someone cares for
you is often rewarded with staunch loyalty. People describe
Daniel as sociable, self-confident, ethical, compassionate,
energetic, intelligent, and responsible leader.
 The failure of trait theories of leadership compelled
researchers to focus on other aspects that could help them
identify a good leader. This gave rise to what is commonly
referred to as Behavioral Theories of Leadership.
 Behavioral Theorists focused their attention on the behaviors
that certain leaders exhibited under certain conditions. They
wondered if there is something unique in the way that
effective leaders behave.

7.  Trait theories of leadership believed that leaders are born
and not made. It, thus, emphasized that people who
displayed some favorable traits could be given the
responsibility of leading the organization.
 Behavioral theories emphasized on behavior of the
individuals. An important significance of this line of thinking
was that people could be trained to attain leadership
positions in an organization.
 This was an exciting prospect since it would have resulted in
an almost endless supply of good leaders. Individuals after
receiving adequate training could be fit to assume leadership
position.
 Unfortunately, this theory too was discarded in the later
years since it suffered more or less from the same limitations
as those of trait theory.

8.  Trait theory could not identify some common traits that
made successful leaders. Behavioral theories could not
satisfactorily identify the suitable behavior that could help
determine effective leadership.
 CEOs of big and successful corporations, like Oracle, tend to
be autocratic, demanding, and intense. They have
successfully led their companies through difficult times. In
doing so, they have, ironically exposed the limitation of
behavioral theories.
 Daniel Assouline, the CEO of Montreal, Canada based
UpClick.com, is a development oriented leader who displays
the best of both behavioral and trait theories of leadership.
He is well-respected leader who shows immense concern for
the well-being and development of his employees.

9.  Both trait and behavioral theories of leadership provided
some valuable insights into the factors and behaviors that
made good leaders. They, however, could not be called
entirely successful because they failed to come up with
definite answers about truly effective leaders and leadership
styles.
 Daniel Assouline, the Chairman and co-founder of UpClick, is
a leader who respects the feelings of his employees and
values their opinions. A highly charismatic and
compassionate leader, Daniel is always willing to help his
employees.