Yair Berson, PhD - Bar-Ilan University

Abstract: To what extent and how do leaders’ characteristics and styles manifest in the organizations they lead? To address this question, I will focus on two channels through which leaders shape individual, group, and organizational performance. To demonstrate the first channel, I will present several studies that highlight how leaders of organizations (e.g., CEOs) shape organizational processes (e.g., organizational culture) and outcomes (e.g., financial indices). To demonstrate the second channel, I will offer another set of studies that focus on the role that leaders play in facilitating outcomes by synchronizing followers’ behaviors as well as their physiological and neurological signatures. I will discuss how by integrating micro and macro processes and by relying on diverse methodologies, my work extends theory and offers new insights about effective leadership.

Professor Berson’s research helps demonstrate the effects of organizational leadership, in particular, visionary leadership, on multiple organizational phenomena including organizational learning, innovation and change. Specifically, he has conducted research on the content of leaders’ vision and the extent to which visionary leaders influence groups. In other works, he has examined implications of individual differences in personality and values for employee and organizational outcomes. Read more information.