IntroductionEffective leadership is essential to a profitable, efficient and productive work environment. The literature on leadership is extensive, but there is consensus that the concept of locus of control is an important predictor of leadership ability. In order to understand the ramifications of the concept and measurement of locus of control in the workplace, one must first understand the concept, its importance, and the leadership characteristics it predicts, as well as the implications for leadership choices. career of individuals. The nature and importance of the “Locus of Control” construct The Locus of Control construct essentially concerns the perceived capacity of the individual to control their personal environment (Lefcourt 1966) or the perception that “positive and/or negative events are a consequence of one’s own personal environment” (Lefcourt, 1966). actions and therefore under personal control” (Lefcourt 1966), and vice versa. The concept was originally developed by Rotter in 1954 and aimed to understand the extent to which individuals feel internally in control of their lives and circumstances. The concept of locus of control continues to receive attention for its importance in assessing aspects of an individual's personality and personality. ability to accurately predict scores for other core psychological constructs such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, and neuroticism (Judge et al. 2002b). Schjoedt and Shaver's (2012, p.713) analysis concludes that “locus of control is an important concept, [because] three meta-analyses show that locus of control is an important aspect of motivation, satisfaction and performance at work. Although there has been some debate over how this concept should be measured (Levenson 1981), the concept has remained remarkably good...... middle of paper ...... Control is predisposed to have these other leadership traits. To the extent that this is true, I am likely to become an effective leader in the workplace and will be suited to both managerial and entrepreneurial roles. Conclusion Although Judge's comment that "no single trait or group of characteristics has been isolated that distinguishes the leader from his or her group members" (Judge et al. 2002b) is true, the concept of Locus of Control is important because it has been shown to have a strong ability to predict effective leadership. The strong correlation between locus of control scores and effective leadership allows individuals to understand whether they are suitable for a leadership position; however, it is not necessarily a definitive test of leadership. Other domains, behaviors, and skills are arguably important in predicting effective leadership (Kaiser, Hogan, and Craig 2008).