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PURPOSE: To describe desired traits as perceived by emerging and entrenched workforce members. DESIGN AND METHODS: A national sample of nursing students (n = 108) and a sample of Midwestern American hospital managers (n = 126) were categorized by age and asked to rank the traits desired in their leaders. Participants ranked the most desired and least desired traits of leaders. Rankings were compared between groups as well as with desired traits from leadership studies in the 1990s. FINDINGS: A high degree of congruency was found between emerging and entrenched health care workforce respondents. However, these findings showed little congruence with previous studies. CONCLUSIONS: Congruence of expectations facilitates mentoring relationships, so finding no difference between the older and younger groups bodes well for the mentoring of young nurse leaders. The key implication is the challenge to recruit and retain such leaders in the nursing profession in a systematic, logical, and generation-friendly way.
Wieck et al. (Sun,) studied this question.