WWII-Era OSS Identified Need for Zelensky-Like Leadership Qualities

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By Kris Osborn, President – Center for Military Modernization

The World War II-era Office of Strategic Services did some pioneering research years ago which quite interestingly continues to inform current thinking on leadership.

The OSS, the intelligence-entity which preceded the CIA, sought out decades ago to try to find some way to quantify, assess or best understand the mix of attributes necessary to becoming a great leader

Zelensky Leadership

“Are leaders born or made? I believe the answer is both,” Mike Mears, a now retired senior member of the intelligence community who specifically evaluated and trained leaders for decades. As the former Director of Human Capital for the CIA, Mears has studied, cultivated and supported those in large leadership roles with massive responsibility.

While some of the nuances or specifics which went into the analysis may not be available for security reasons, the effort did prove quite successful in the realm of predicting future behavior of those tasked with major leadership positions.

“It’s not perfect but they can, with some precision, filter out if the person has certain attributes. Do the leadership candidates have drive? Is that balanced by empathy? Are they optimists? Are they learners? There is a cluster of measurable traits that you can measure to predict future behavior. That was a great discovery actually in the OSS in ‘43,” Mears said.