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Much has been written in contemporary society about the characteristics necessary to become a leader. Yet, the concept of leadership still can be elusive because of common myths about leadership that individuals choose to believe. However, one important aspect of leadership is that it often is thought to be a transient circumstance. According to Isabel Maitland Stewart, an early American nursing leader, sociologists and psychologists who have studied the nature and conditions of leadership seem to agree that effective leadership depends on three main factors:
First, there must be a situation that calls for leadership- usually a crisis or a complicated condition of affairs that cannot be disentangled by ordinary individuals or by ordinary methods. Second, there must be a group that is responsive to leadership, and sufficiently homogeneous to arrive at some common basis of understanding and cooperation. Third, there must be a leader who is capable of meeting the specific situation - one who has initiative enough to step out a little ahead of the rest and who, at the same time, possesses a combination of traits acceptable to the group (Stewart, 1940, pp. 13-14).
Assuming these factors are at least fairly adequate, it does not take one long to conclude that Priscilla Ebersole has been an outstanding leader in nursing. Whether the situation called forth the leader, for indeed all the factors were present, or the leader discovered the need and created the movement, need not be of concern. Dr. Ebersole possibly would have been a leader in any field she may have chosen, but in the field of gerontological nursing, she found a congenial cause and ample scope for her unusual abilities. Her clarity of vision, high ideals, creativity, and clinical experimentation have affected nursing profoundly.
Warren Bennis, a professor at the University of Southern California who has studied corporate executives, emphasizes that leaders think about doing and do the right thing. This process promotes futuristic thought as well as contemplation of dreams, missions, strategic intent, and purpose - all of which comprise the essence of leadership. Dr. Ebersole's career trajectory in geriatric nursing exemplifies this process although she believes her career "...has really just been a path through open doors and never a well laid out plain." Perhaps this was...