Winner of the University of San Diego Outstanding Leadership Book Award 2012! Shortlisted for the British Psychological Society Book Award 2011! Shortlisted for the CMI (Chartered Management Institute) Management Book of the Year Award 2011–2012! According to John Adair, the most important word in the leader's vocabulary is "we" and the least important word is "I". But if this is true, it raises one important question: why do psychological analyses of leadership always focus on the leader as an individual – as the great "I"? One answer is that theorists and practitioners have never properly understood the psychology of "we-ness". This book fills this gap by presenting a new psychology of leadership that is the result of two decades of research inspired by social identity and self-categorization theories. The book argues that to succeed, leaders need to create, champion, and embed a group identity in order to cultivate an understanding of 'us' of which they themselves are representative. It also shows how, by doing this, they can make a material difference to the groups, organizations, and societies that they lead. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book examines a range of central theoretical and practical issues, including the nature of group identity, the basis of authority and legitimacy, the dynamics of justice and fairness, the determinants of followership and charisma, and the practice and politics of leadership. The book will appeal to academics, practitioners and students in social and organizational psychology, sociology, political science and anyone interested in leadership, influence and power.

In this book, some of the world's leading scholars come together to describe their thinking and research on the topic of the psychology of leadership. Most of the chapters were originally presented as papers at a research conference held in 2001 at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. The contributions span traditional social psychological areas, as well as organizational theory; examining leadership as a psychological process and as afforded by organizational constraints and opportunities. The editors' goal was not to focus the chapters on a single approach to the study and conceptualization of leadership but rather to display the diversity of issues that surround the topic. Leadership scholars have identified a host of approaches to the study of leadership. What are the personal characteristics of leaders? What is the nature of the relation between leaders and followers? Why do we perceive some people to be better leaders than others? What are the circumstances that evoke leadership qualities in people? Can leadership be taught? And so on. The contributions to this book examine these important questions and fall into three categories: conceptions of leadership, factors that influence the effectiveness of leadership, and the consequences and effects of leadership on the leader. All in all, the chapters of this volume display part of a broad spectrum of novel and important approaches to the study of the psychology of leadership. We hope that they are equally useful to those who are or would be leaders and to those who study the topic. As recent events have served to remind us, it is too important a topic to be ignored by psychologists.

This timely book marshals more than a dozen of Levinson's most insightful writings on work-life issues, from avoiding burnout to pursuing a second career, from dealing with abrasive personalities to handling the emotional and career challenges facing middle-aged managers.

The book seamlessly links fundamental insights and practical approaches to address the most important leadership problems and challenges. Each of the 11 chapters takes a close look at a specific leadership aspect and explains how to develop personal leadership qualities, such as charisma, the ability to motivate others, assertiveness, and how to overcome crises and conflicts to create new structures. Ethical questions and possible negative developments in connection with leadership and power are also examined. Unlike conventional leadership manuals, this book on leadership goes beyond the standard 'recipes' and models by providing clear trains of thought as well as a psychological and philosophical basis, and by focusing on major achievements in terms of leadership, it creates a more profound understanding and holistic view of the subject of leadership, while promoting a genuine fascination for it.

A better understanding of the psychological relationships at play within current working environments will enable leaders to achieve greater success for themselves and their organizations. Leadership Psychology outlines how inspirational leaders across a range of award-winning companies of all sizes understand their employees' psychological needs and use that knowledge to affect behaviour and enhance performance. The book showcases examples of leadership best practice in businesses featured in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work for Survey. Exclusive information gained through interviews with the most highly regarded leaders of a special selection of these winning companies is analyzed and critically evaluated, using the underpinning principles of occupational psychology to reveal modern trends in working practice. Leadership Psychology also includes unique information based on the author's discussions with military professionals at Sandhurst, sharing one-of-a-kind insights about what makes a strong leader under pressure. With updated looks at the unwritten 'psychological contract,' between employers and employees and a new analysis of Herzberg's motivational hygiene theory, Leadership Psychology is an original and timely addition to studies of leadership in the context of motivational factors. This book provides up-to-the-minute practical guidance, based upon a rigorous psychological foundation, to executives holding operational or strategic leadership positions in businesses of all shapes and sizes.

A state-of-the-art reference, drawing on key contemporary research to provide an in-depth, international, and competencies-based approach to the psychology of leadership, change and OD Puts cutting-edge evidence at the fingertips of organizational psychology practitioners who need it most, but who do not always have the time or resources to keep up with scholarly research Thematic chapters cover leadership and employee well-being, organizational creativity and innovation, positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry, and leadership-culture fit Contributors include David Cooperrider, Manfred Kets de Vries, Emma Donaldson-Feilder, Staale Einarsen, David Day, Beverley Alimo-Metcalfe, Michael Chaskalson and Bernard Burnes

"Post is a pioneer in the field of political-personality profiling. He may be the only psychiatrist who has specialized in the self-esteem problems of both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein."--The New Yorker "Policy specialists and academic scholars have long agreed that for U.S. leaders to deal effectively with other actors in the international arena, they need images of their adversaries. Leaders must try to see events, and, indeed, their own behavior, from the perspective of opponents.... Faulty images are a source of misperceptions and miscalculations that have often led to major errors in policy, avoidable catastrophes, and missed opportunities. History supplies all too many examples."--from the ForewordWhat impels leaders to lead and followers to follow? How did Osama bin Laden, the son of a multibillionaire construction magnate in Saudi Arabia, become the world's number-one terrorist? What are the psychological foundations of man's inhumanity to man, ethnic cleansing, and genocide? Jerrold M. Post contends that such questions can be answered only through an understanding of the psychological foundations of leader personality and political behavior.Post was founding director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior for the CIA. He developed the political personality profiles of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat for President Jimmy Carter's use at the Camp David talks and initiated the U.S. government's research program on the psychology of political terrorism. He was awarded the Intelligence Medal of Merit in 1979 for his leadership of the center.In this book, he draws on psychological and personality theories, as well as interviews with individual terrorists and those who have interacted with particular leaders, to discuss a range of issues: the effects of illness and age on a leader's political behavior; narcissism and the relationship between followers and a charismatic leader; the impact of crisis-induced stress on policymakers; the mind of the terrorist, with a consideration of "killing in the name of God"; and the need for enemies and the rise of ethnic conflict and terrorism in the post-Cold War environment. The leaders he discusses include Fidel Castro, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and Slobodan Milosevic.

The Oxford Handbook of Social Influence restores this important field to its once preeminent position within social psychology. Editors Harkins, Williams, and Burger lead a team of leading scholars as they explore a variety of topics within social influence, seamlessly incorporating a range of analyses (including intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intragroup), and examine critical theories and the role of social influence in applied settings today.

In this book of insightful essays, Kets de Vries explodes the myth that rationality is what governs the behavior of leaders and followers, and he provides a more realistic perspective on organizational functioning and the leader-follower relationship. The author shows that a great potential for distortion exists when leaders try to act out the fantasies of their followers, and explores the many psychological traps into which leaders frequently fall. Citing examples from business, history, literature, the arts, and from his own psychoanalytic and management-consulting practise, the author identifies distinct leader types. He describes, for instance, the narcissist whose drive for power and prestige can bring much-needed vitality to an organization, but whose inability to accept criticism ultimately creates a climate of subservience. He shows that entrepreneurs possess many of the qualities of the impostor, including a capacity for self-dramatization and a deep understanding of how to profit by others' wishes and desires, and he explains why entrepreneurs sometimes distort the truth about themselves and their organizations. Through numerous case studies of successful and failed leaders, Leaders, Fools, and Impostors furthers a better understanding of the leader-follower dynamic, and gives leaders the means to transform themselves.

Positive Psychology at Work brings the fields of positive psychology and appreciative inquiry together for the first time to provide leaders and change agents with a powerful new approach to achieving organizational excellence. Draws together positive psychology and appreciative inquiry in the context of leadership organizational challenges for the first time Presents academically rigorous and referenced material in a jargon-free, accessible manner Arranged with chapters focused on specific organizational challenges to allow readers to quickly find ideas relevant to their unique situation Features short contributions from experienced practitioners of positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry, and includes case studies from the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA