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Summary This study tested the moderating role of group properties in the relationship between two prototypical leadership attributes (cognitive ability and adjustment) and leadership potential. Building on trait activation theory, we investigated one organizational cue (degree of centralization in the informal social structure) and one social cue (average level of the relevant attribute among other group members) and posited that the two prototypical leadership attributes would more likely be activated (leading to leadership potential) in more centralized groups and in groups where others have lower levels of the studied attribute. We tested 874 combat soldiers undergoing basic training in 71 teams. In a time‐lagged design, we measured general cognitive ability and adjustment before conscription and then used regression analyses to calculate the group informal social structure and leadership potential several months after conscription. As predicted, the relationships of both adjustment and cognitive ability with leadership potential were moderated by group informal structure, with stronger relationships in groups with more centralized structures. Other group members' cognitive ability moderated the relationship between cognitive ability and leadership potential (stronger relationships in groups with lower mean of others' cognitive ability), but other group members' adjustment did not moderate the relationship between adjustment and leadership potential.

This study aimed to understand how leadership effectiveness of the trainer in a leadership development program can influence emerging leaders’ development and effectiveness. We hypothesized that the trainer’s leadership effectiveness would be a boundary condition. In this two year longitudinal field study, military cadets’ leadership effectiveness from their emergence as informal peer leaders during basic training through the officer training course (OTC) to their formal leadership roles as active duty officers was followed. The sample included 854 cadets and their 72 trainers. We found that cadets’ effectiveness during OTC mediated the relationship between informal leadership emergence during basic training and their subsequent effectiveness as formal leaders. Furthermore, trainers’ effectiveness moderated the relationship between cadets’ informal leadership emergence and effectiveness in OTC. Results indicate that informal emerging leaders are more likely to develop into highly effective formal leaders when supervised by effective trainers. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

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One of the main hazards to helicopter low-level flight is obstacles on the flight route. It is essential that those obstacles be displayed to the pilots in a way that enables them to fly as safely as possible. Two different symbology concepts were suggested for display of obstacles: spatial and guidance displays. The spatial symbology shows the pilot where the obstacles are, whereas the guidance symbology recommends the preferable route and flight altitude. A personal-computer-based simulation study was conducted to compare four helmet-mounted display symbologies of obstacles. Three of the symbologies tested were of the spatial concept (one plan view and two conformal forward views), and the fourth was of the guidance concept. Twenty-one pilots completed a simulated task, similar to a searchand-rescue mission, under a degraded visibility environment condition while maintaining the exposure time as short as possible within two experiments. The results show better objective performance (shorter exposure time to threats, more targets detected, shorter reaction time to targets, and shorter reaction time to unexpected events) when using the conformal forward-view displays. This symbology was also subjectively preferred by the participants.