What characteristic describes leaders who can recover from significant setbacks in their careers?

Resilience is a key characteristic for leaders who face significant setbacks in their careers because it embodies the ability to bounce back, adapt, and grow from adversity. Resilient leaders have the mental fortitude to navigate challenges and maintain a positive outlook, which is crucial for not only their personal recovery but also for inspiring and guiding their teams during difficult times.

Leaders with resilience can analyze the situation, learn from their experiences, and show perseverance in pursuing their goals despite obstacles. This ability to recover strengthens their leadership effectiveness, as they can turn challenges into opportunities for growth, both personally and within their organizations. In a transformational leadership context, resilience also helps to foster a culture of determination and innovation among team members, encouraging them to embrace risks and learn from failures.

The other choices, while important in their own right, do not specifically encompass the concept of recovering from setbacks. Empathy focuses on understanding and sharing the feelings of others, which is more about relational abilities than personal recovery. Visionary thinking emphasizes creating and communicating a compelling future direction, while intellectual competence pertains to a leader's knowledge and skills. Though these traits contribute to overall leadership effectiveness, they do not directly define the characteristic associated with the ability to recover from significant setbacks.