New Psychology of Leadership

S. Alexander Haslam is Professor of Psychology and Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia. Alex’s research focuses on the study of group and identity processes in social, organizational and contexts. Together with over 400 co-authors around the world, he has written and edited 16 books and published over 350 peer-reviewed articles on these topics. He is a former Editor of the European Journal of Social Psychology and currently Associate Editor of The Leadership Quarterly. In 2022 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to education and research in psychology.Stephen Reicher is Wardlaw Professor of Psychology at the University of St Andrews, UK. Steve’s seminal contributions to research on social identity and self-categorization theories stretch back to the 1980s, and have been particularly influential in areas of delinquency, nationalism, crowd behaviour, and political influence. Together with over 200 co-authors, he has written and edited 7 books and published over 300 peer-reviewed articles on these topics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a former Editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology.Michael Platow is Professor in Psychology at the Australian National University, Australia. Michael has published extensively on intergroup relations, social justice, leadership and social influence. He has published over 150 papers in these areas and written and edited four books. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and a former president of the International Society of Justice Research.

“If you only ever read one book about leadership this should be it.”- George A. Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics.“What I like about this book is how the science of leadership is mingled in a readable way with historical and modern-day examples. It is a must-read.”- Cary L. Cooper in the Times Higher Education.“An amazing book that completely changed my mind about leadership.”- Rafael di Tella, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, USA.“A path-breaking book that will reinvigorate and redirect scholarship on leadership for many years to come.”- Jack Dovidio, Professor of Psychology, Yale University USA.

• 1The old psychology of leadership: Great men and the cult of personalityLeadership in history: The “great man” and his charisma The political decline of the “great man” approach: The impact of the “great dictators” The standardization of leadership: Personality models and their failings The biographical approach: Looking for the roots of greatness in personal histories The theoretical deficiency of individualistic models The political deficiency of individualistic models The faulty definition of leadershipConclusion: Five criteria for a useful psychology of leadership 2The current psychology of leadership: Issues of context and contingency, transaction and transformation The importance of context and contingency The importance of followers The importance of that “special something” Conclusion: The need for a new psychology of leadership 3Foundations for the new psychology of leadership: Social identity and self-categorizationSocial identity and group behavior Social identity and collective power Defining social identities Conclusion: Setting the agenda for a new psychology of leadership 4Being one of us: Leaders as in-group prototypes The importance of standing for the group Prototypicality and leadership effectiveness Prototypicality and leadership stereotypes Prototypicality and the creativity of leaders Conclusion: To lead us, leaders must represent “us” 5Doing it for us: Leaders as in-group champions The importance of fairness From fairness to group interest Clarifying the group interest Conclusion: To engage followers, leaders’ actions and visions must promote group interests 6Crafting a sense of us: Leaders as entrepreneurs of identity The complex relationship between reality, representativeness, and leadership Social identities as world-making resources Who can mobilize us? The importance of defining category prototypes Who is mobilized? The importance of defining category boundaries What is the nature of mobilization? The importance of defining category content Conclusion: Leaders are masters not slaves of identity7Making us matter: Leaders as embedders of identity Identity as a moderator of the relationship between authority and power Leaders as artists of identity Leaders as impresarios of identity Leaders as engineers of identity Conclusion: Leadership and the production of power both center on the hard but rewarding work of identity management 8The pragmatics of identity leadership: Being effective in the world The nature of effective leadership The nature of ineffective leadership A case study of the pragmatics of identity leadership: The COVID-19 pandemic Conclusion: Identity leadership is practical because it is grounded in well-evidenced integrative theory 9The politics of identity leadership: Doing good and evil in the world The intragroup dimension of identity leadership The intergroup dimension of identity leadership A case study of the politics of identity leadership: Donald Trump and the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol Conclusion: Whether leadership is benign or toxic hinges on the form and content of identity leadership 10The tools of identity leadership: Translating theory into practice