bake - March 2014 - 10

management

Lead Your Bakery
As a bakery owner or manager, your job entails leading your

Self-assurance: Self-conﬁdence and resiliency are common

employees in the right direction and leading your business

traits among leaders. They tend to be free of guilt and have

to higher revenues and proﬁts.

little or no need for approval. They are generally unaffected
by prior mistakes or failures.

Raymond Cattell, a pioneer in the ﬁeld of personality assessment, developed the Leadership Potential equation in 1954.

Compulsiveness: Leaders are controlled and very precise

This equation, which was based on a study of military leaders,

in their social interactions. Overall, they are very protec-

is used today to determine the traits which characterize an

tive of their integrity and reputation and consequently tend

effective leader. The traits of an effective leader include the

to be socially aware and careful, abundant in foresight, and

following:

very careful when making decisions or determining speciﬁc
actions.

Emotional stability: Good leaders must be able to tolerate
frustration and stress. Overall, they must be well-adjusted and

Intuitiveness: Rapid changes in the world today combined

have the psychological maturity to deal with anything they are

with information overload, result in an inability to know

required to face.

everything. In other words, reasoning and logic will not get
you through all situations. In fact, more and more leaders are

Dominance: Leaders are often competitive, decisive and

learning the value of using their intuition and trusting their

usually enjoy overcoming obstacles. Overall, they are assertive

gut when making decisions.

in their thinking style as well as their attitude in dealing with
others.

Empathy: Being able to put yourself in the other person's
shoes is a key trait of leaders today. Without empathy, you

Enthusiasm: Leaders are usually seen as active, expressive

can't build trust; without trust, you will never be able to get

and energetic. They are often very optimistic and open to

the best effort from your employees.

change. Overall, they are generally quick, alert and tend to
be uninhibited.

Charisma: People usually perceive leaders as larger than life.
Charisma plays a large part in this perception. Leaders who

Conscientiousness: Leaders are often dominated by a sense

have charisma are able to arouse strong emotions in their

of duty and tend to be very exacting in character. They usually

employees by deﬁning a vision which unites and captivates

have a very high standard of excellence and an inward desire

them. Using this vision, leaders motivate employees to reach

to do their best. They also have a need for order and tend to

toward a future goal by tying the goal to substantial personal

be very self-disciplined.

rewards and values.

Social boldness: Leaders tend to be spontaneous risk-takers.

Leaders are rarely (if ever) born. Circumstances and persis-

They are usually socially aggressive and generally thick-

tence are major components in the developmental process

skinned. Overall, they are responsive to others and tend to

of any leader.

be high in emotional stamina.

SOURCE: US SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, WWW.SBA.GOV

10 < MAR 2014 | bakemag.com

http://WWW.SBA.GOV http://www.bakemag.com

bake - March 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of bake - March 2014