Related Papers and Publications

Full Range Leadership Development (Episode 1)
Bruce Avolio’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how people, timing, resources, context, motivation, and expected performance results all contribute to effective leadership. Each facet of the celebrated full range leadership development model is illustrated through the actions of real-world leaders that range from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to elementary school teachers and parents, the most important leadership mentors of all. The book shows how the model can be directly applied to improve leadership at the individual, team and organizational levels.

Who’s ready to lead? (Episode 2)
Every organization would like to accelerate the development of its leaders. But first things first, says this 2008 paper which proposes that leader developers should first assess and then build the developmental readiness of individual leaders—and the organization. This can be done by assessing and developing five components: learning goal orientation, developmental efficacy, self-concept clarity, self-complexity, and metacognitive ability.

The long and winding road to authentic leadership development (Episode 3)
A consensus of studies now demonstrates that when it comes to leaders, nurture trumps nature. But if leaders are made, how do we make them better? This essay plots Bruce Avolio’s personal and professional journey from the narrow study of leadership characteristics to an ever-widening exploration of the entire ecosystem surrounding authentic leadership. It winds up introducing his ultimate foray into the field’s most challenging frontier: designing authentic leadership development.

Can you see the real me? (Episode 4)
If sham leadership is the undoing of some high-profile organizations, then authentic leadership is the key to the health of many more. This 2005 paper proposes a detailed model for developing authentic leaders and followers, resulting in healthy, ethical work cultures characterized by transparency, trust, integrity, high moral standards and, on the bottom line, sustainable performance.

Manufacturing charisma (Episode 5)
Effective leadership during stable times is challenging enough. But what about in times of high stress and uncertainty? According this 2003 study of U.S. Army combat platoons, a blend of transactional and transformational leadership most effectively fosters a culture of cohesion and potency. This, in turn, is critical to maximizing unit performance under challenging and uncertain conditions.

Leadership under pressure (Episode 6)
Effective leadership during stable times is challenging enough. But what about in times of high stress and uncertainty? According this 2003 study of U.S. Army combat platoons, a blend of transactional and transformational leadership most effectively fosters a culture of cohesion and potency. This, in turn, is critical to maximizing unit performance under challenging and uncertain conditions.

The emotional leader
We have long known that followers passively “catch” a leader’s positive or negative emotion via social contagion. This new study demonstrates that followers also view their leaders’ emotions with a critical eye. They suspect the sincerity of negative emotional expressions more than positive displays—and sincerity is a key to motivating followers successfully.

Positivity is contagious
For leaders, all the world’s a stage. Their character and style are not only noticed, but also emulated by followers. And positivity works best. This paper demonstrates how psychological capital — a suite of positive traits including efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience — is transmitted from leader to follower, resulting in higher job performance.

To thine own self be true
Beginning with the example of Martin Luther King, Jr., this paper introduces the principles of authentic leadership, a variant of altruism. Authentic leaders are guided by conscience but focused on the betterment of others—and they act on those principles even in the face of external pressure or threats. The good news is that authentic leadership can be fostered, and the authors offer practical ways to develop self-awareness, balanced processing, transparency and moral acting.

Developing psychological capital
Think positive. Be positive. Get positive results. “Psychological capital,” a positive state of development characterized by confidence, optimism, hope and resilience, has been shown to result in higher performance. This paper demonstrates that psychological capital can be developed through brief training interventions, and that doing so creates a measurable improvement in the performance of leaders and their associates.

The ROI of leadership development
Organizational leaders have to consider the financial return on any proposed capital investment. But what about investments in leadership training? This new paper proposes a method of estimating the return on leadership development investment (RODI) and puts it to the test on a wide variety of training interventions. The bottom line: expected returns usually make intelligent leadership development well worth the cost.

Who’s leading the leader?
Leaders certainly influence the principles of their organizations, whether or not behaving ethically is the norm. It turns out that followers also influence the ethics of their leaders. This forthcoming paper explains how leader ethicality is systematically influenced by four types of follower behaviors: modeling, eliciting, guiding and sensemaking.