Do you dream of one day being the boss where you work? Or, even better, the CEO of your own business?

Well notebooks at the ready, because a new study has identified the personality traits that women in leadership roles have in common, including assertiveness, empathy and ego-strength.

Researchers at management consultancy firm Caliper studied the traits associated with women in work and tried to identify if there was a source to the dramatic under-representation of women in top roles at large companies that could be addressed.

They spoke to 85 women at a vice-president or more senior role over a functional area in a company, like sales, marketing or research and asked them to fill out a personality test as well as surveys about how they thought about their success in different areas.

It emerged that the following traits were displayed by the majority of the leaders:

Assertiveness: Being straightforward in your communication style

Aggressiveness (we prefer the word Drive for this one): Bringing in a constructive, emotional element to move projects forward

Empathy: Being able to understand and relate to the feelings of others

Ego-Strength: Being resilient and able to overcome challenges

Stress Tolerance: Being comfortable in high-stress environments

Energy: Bringing vitality and enthusiasm to your work

The six personality traits that women in leadership roles all share