The New Psychology of Leadership - 9781841696102

"A simple but profound theory underlies The New Psychology of Leadership, and that theory seems so very right that it may come as a surprise that this is not already the concept of leadership everywhere." From the Foreword by George Akerlof, Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley, USA

"This book provides a tremendous service by sorting through the tangle of leadership studies and theories to offer a new perspective that is at once elegant, supported by eclectic research, and readily translatable into practical implications." Blake Ashforth, Professor of Management, Arizona State University, USA

"An amazing book that completely changed my mind about leadership. It's a double treat: a new theory and a new set of empirical regularities. I expect that this new, systematic approach to this important topic will attract scholars from many disciplines." Rafael di Tella, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, USA

"This book offers a creative and highly generative new perspective on a topic of central interest in psychology, and allied disciplines. It is a path-breaking book that will reinvigorate and redirect scholarship on leadership for many years to come." John F. Dovidio, Professor of Social Psychology, Yale University, USA

"This is a first rate work that makes a major contribution to an expanded understanding of leadership. The authors provide a major advance in thinking and they have written a rich and accessible account that will have a major impact on the field." George E. Marcus, Professor of Political Science, Williams College London, UK

According to John Adair, the most important word in the leader's vocabulary is "we" and the least important word is "I". If this is true, it raises one important question: Why do psychological analyses of leadership always focus on the leader as an individual --- the great "I".

One answer is that psychologists have never properly understood the psychology of "we-ness". This book presents a new psychology of leadership that is the result of two decades of research inspired by social identity and self-categorization theories. It argues that to succeed, leaders need to create, champion, and embed a sense of group identity 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.