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

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 with their leader when the going gets tough.

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.