Marketers make best leaders, say UK business leaders

And the survey revealed that business leaders believe accountants make the worst leaders - finishing bottom of the list with just 10% of the votes.

'When asked, 'Which profession makes the best leaders?' an astounding 38% said individuals from a marketing background did,' explained Tina Schneidermann, President, Leaders in Dubai/London.

And the survey revealed that the battle of the sexes still rages in the nation's boardrooms. Eight-four percent of men said they firmly believe men make the best leaders, but 59% of women disagreed.

The survey, carried out ahead of the 'Leaders in London' event, which will be held at Earl's Court from October 18/19 and which will be addressed by seven of the world's leadership experts, also voted Sir Richard Branson the UK's most highly rated business leader. Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group, topped the list of British business leaders with 37% support, almost twice that of runner-up Sir Terry Leahy, CEO of supermarket giant Tesco. Third place went to Dame Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop.

'One of the most interesting aspects of the results was that respondents believe great leaders are made and not born,' said Tina Schneidermann, President, Leaders in Dubai/London. 'More than half those surveyed said the skills necessary to become a great leader can be learnt and that it isn't necessary to be born lucky to succeed in the boardroom. This bodes extremely well for attendance at 'Leaders in Dubai' which is a unique and highly educational leadership event.'

According to survey respondents, the ability to inspire is the difference between a 'great' leader and a 'good' leader. 'The ability to affect, guide or arouse was seen as the key differentiator by 44% of respondents,' explained Schneidermann. 'Vision and communication skills also feature highly, eliciting 23% and 15% respectively.'

And the survey also revealed that today's businessmen believe that leaders become better with age and the best thing about being a leader is the ability to bring about change.

Office politics was voted the single worst aspect of leadership, with business leaders regularly battling against this aspect and loneliness.

'Some 43% of the business leaders surveyed believed politics to be the worst thing about being a leader while 31% indicated that the loneliness of leadership is the worst aspect of the job,' explained Schneidermann.

The biggest challenges to leaders were periods of poor sales and bad results, according to the survey, but the ability to develop and empower people emerged as the most important leadership requirement.

Following on from the UK survey,' Leaders in Dubai', in conjunction with AMEInfo.com, the Middle East's premier online business resource, now intend to run a similar survey throughout the Middle East.

'In the run-up to 'Leaders in Dubai' we want to know what Middle East executives truly believe about leadership,' said Schneidermann.

'Leaders in Dubai' will be held at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre (DIEC), from November 29-30 this year. It will see seven world leadership experts address a high powered audience of Middle East corporate executives. The seven to address the event are: former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani; Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter; Tom Peters, the Ur-guru of management; best-selling author, Frank Maguire; MIT's Professor of Management and Economics, Lester Thurow; influential futurist Alvin Toffler and former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch, who will address live via videocast link.

'Leaders in Dubai' is expected to attract an audience of more than 1,500 with over 850 delegates already booked. The event will be the biggest business conference at the Dubai International Convention Centre since the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in September 2003.

'Leaders in Dubai' is sponsored by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Ferrometal Group, Citigroup, Shell, Nokia and Visa International.

Fairmont Dubai is the event's official hotel.