ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we draw from the perspective of leadership as organizational problem solving and focus on the critical role that social acuity skills play in leader effectiveness. Our discussion starts with a description of leaders as organizational problem solvers, and the importance of social acuity skills in the problem detection, definition formation, solution generation, and implementation processes. We then define the key elements in the organizational space that are the primary foci of leader social perception. We propose that social perceptual processes of leaders include the detection of performance requirements and action potentialities. Following this, we provide a summary of leader attributes that incorporate elements of social acuity in their construct definitions, and briefly summarize research linking these attributes to leadership processes and success. The chapter concludes with suggested implications of this work to both academics and practitioners.
