Chapter 1 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter examines several kinds of leader characteristics: inherited traits and those springing from early childhood experience; attitudes toward relationships with other people; and qualities differentiating effective from ineffective leaders. Modern researchers tend to stress nurture over nature. Studies of biographical factors (IQ, birth order, childrearing styles, and socioeconomic variables) show that leaders are more intelligent than nonleaders, not first-born, used to making decisions from an early age, and from a higher socioeconomic group than followers. In the human relations area, leaders are above average at social interaction, are people-oriented, and are good talkers and listeners. Traits that distinguish effective from ineffective leaders include strong goal orientation, self-confidence, and proactivity--the ability to act, rather than passively react. Reasonable intelligence and good communication skills are worthy criteria for selecting, evaluating, and training school administrators. In promotion decisions, superiors should consider those with clear, well-articulated goals and the intitiative and determination to accomplish them. Although the above depiction of the "ideal" leader is sketchy, the composite picture may help administrators with evaluation and priority-setting tasks. (MLH)