THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE SUCCESS OF FOUR-H ORGANIZATION LEADERS AND CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS, ROLES PERFORMED, AND ATTITUDES HELD TOWARD LEADER ROLES AND TO APPLY THE FINDINGS IN SUGGESTING LEADER SELECTION CRITERIA. DATA WERE GATHERED FROM 282 ORGANIZATION LEADERS LIVING IN 30 IOWA COUNTIES. ALL LEADERS WERE EVALUATED BY A FOUR-H AGENT MAINTAINING PRIMARY FOUR-H RESPONSIBILITY IN A COUNTY MORE THAN ONE YEAR PRIOR TO THE STUDY. AGENTS RATED WOMEN LEADERS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN MEN. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL LEADERS MAINTAINED A LARGER NUMBER OF MEMBERSHIPS AND HELD MORE OFFICER POSITIONS IN ORGANIZED GROUPS. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE WAS FOUND BETWEEN TYPES ON SUCH CHARACTERISTICS AS AGE, EDUCATION LEVEL, AND OCCUPATION TENURE. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT WOMEN SHOULD BE USED AS LEADERS FOR ALL CLUBS. LEADERS USUALLY CONSIDERED IT IMPORTANT THAT THEY PERFORM MANY DIFFERENT LEADER ROLES. A GREATER EFFORT SHOULD BE MADE THROUGH TRAINING PROGRAMS, ASSISTANCE TO LEADERS, AND ATTITUDE CHANGE FOR A COMPLETE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ORGANIZATION-PROJECT LEADER SYSTEM. THIS MASTERS THESIS IS AVAILABLE FROM IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AMES. (AUTHOR/PT)