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Research and weaknesses. The most common strengths noted included intelli- gence, self-discipline, and charisma. The weakness that workers most commonly cited, however, was asser- tiveness—it was cited more often than mentions of a lack of charisma, intelligence, and self-discipline com- bined. The reason for this outcome, the researchers speculate, lies in human perception. Workers tend only to believe charisma is important when it's lacking. Assertiveness, however, could be seen as a problem both ways—if it was absent, col- leagues perceived a leader as ineffec- tive at achieving goals; if it was too strongly present, they perceived a leader as pushy and difficult. FOCUS ON FACULTY Power Breeds Power in Politics Ernesto Dal Bò, assistant professor UC Berkeley, studies the rise of U.S. political families. Does political power run in families? Yes, says Ernesto Dal Bò, an assis- tant professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. Although the prevalence of political dynasties has declined since the heyday of the Kennedy political family, a correla- tion still exists. "In politics, power begets power," he says. Dal Bò's interest in studying the political arena stems from work he has done with his brother Pedro Dal Bò of Brown University and Jason Snyder of Northwestern University. "We wondered how the political process affected individuals and what kind of individual had 60 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2007 access to large amounts of political capital," says Dal Bò. "Then, we wondered whether political power was self-perpetuating." The researchers studied the Ernesto Dal Bò database maintained by the Univer- sity of Michigan's Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) to see how often the next generation of a political family also came to office. Dal Bò and his co-researchers found that politicians who are re-elected to office in the U.S. Congress are 40 percent more likely than politicians who serve only one term to have a family member follow in their footsteps. Other occupa- tions, such as medicine, do not have such a causal link, says Dal Bò. Evidence of a self-perpetuating political elite suggests that elections today can have political conse quences in 30 years. Likewise, political mis- takes today may cost the future political aspirants in a family. Dal Bò believes that the study of political dynasties also sheds light on how power is channeled in social networks, including those that run through business. He and his co- researchers plan to create a database that not only looks at next-genera- tional links, but also at whether any family link, such as having a sibling in Congress, may also have an effect. "Being in power appears to be, in itself, a very powerful thing," says Dal Bò. "This finding suggests that perhaps we should be looking at similar patterns in business." To read the paper, visit faculty. haas.berkeley.edu/dalbo/. "Assertiveness dominated reports of leadership weaknesses, though it wasn't nearly as common in colleagues' comments about strengths," says Ames. "When lead- ers get assertiveness wrong, it's glar- ing and obvious; but when they get it right, it seems to disappear." Ames and Flynn do not believe that their research should inspire managers to adopt moderate asser- tiveness at all times. However, they do argue that those leaders who show too much or too little asser- tiveness are less flexible when it comes to workplace behavior. Mod- erately assertive leaders are better able to turn their assertiveness up or down as a situation demands. 'Reel' Research for Movie Industry Now that movies are released via multiple channels—movie theaters, DVD rental, DVD retail, and video-on- demand (VOD)—the profitability of the traditional movie theater is in question. Researchers from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States examined the state of the modern movie theater in their study, "The Last Picture Show? Timing and Order of Movie Distribution Chan- nels." The study will be published in the Journal of Marketing. Collaborating on the study were Henrik Sattler, professor of market- ing and branding at the University of