Early leadership studies examined common traits of successful leaders. Later research focused on combinations of traits as no one profile was shared by all successful leaders. This research focuses on three key dimensions of leadership: charismatic leadership, instrumental leadership, and political connections. It suggests how they can become a scorecard to rate not only one’s chances for advancement, but also one’s bosses and one’s peers.

If you made a list of leadership clichés, the “open door policy” would likely make the top ten. Clichés exist because truth exists within them, and clichés often beg further examination beyond the nugget of truth.

Such is the case with the “open door policy.”

Nice guys may not finish first, according to research coauthored by Nir Halevy of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In fact, taking care of others in your group and even taking care of outsiders may reduce a nice guy's chance of becoming a leader.

In his new book, The Leader's Checklist, Wharton management professor Michael Useem presents a collection of 15 principles that can help leaders navigate successfully through even the most difficult circumstances. Using such milestone events as the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners in 2010, the collapse of AIG in 2008 and the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomattox in 1865, Useem illustrates the difference between good and bad leadership, and how to achieve one's own personal leadership success.

"Show me a company or nonprofit or government in trouble, and I will almost invariably show you a set of leaders who are asking absolutely the wrong questions," says professor Robert Steven Kaplan. He discusses his new book, What to Ask the Person in the Mirror. Plus: book excerpt.

The need to empower natural leaders isn’t an HR pipe dream, it’s a competitive imperative. But before you can empower them, you have to find them.

Asking the question, whom do you serve? is a powerful vector on which to build a useful typology of leadership. Modesto Maidique offers a six-level Purpose-Driven Model of Leadership ranging from Sociopath to Transcendent.

“Some days it feels like the information age has morphed into the interruption age. But what if those interruptions turned out to be our best opportunity to make a difference in our workplaces?

As leaders, we make choices all day, every day. The “knock on the door” happens over and over again in some form – phone calls, meetings, emails, and text messages with questions to answer, concerns to address, problems to solve, and fires to put out. There are big issues and small issues, planned sessions and surprises, and they come at us endlessly and from every direction. We have to make decisions without having all the available information, and we need to make them right now. The workload is expanding, and the time we have to deal with each issue is shrinking.

But what if we could step back and look at all those interactions with a fresh perspective? What if, instead of seeing them as interfering with our work, we were to look at them as latent leadership moments? What if these moments were the answer to transformational leadership in today’s busy world?”

Executives can thrive at work and in life by adopting a leadership model that revolves around finding their strengths and connecting with others.

Know how to project power, counsels Stanford management professor Bob Sutton, since those you lead need to believe you have it for it to be effective. And to lock in your team's loyalty, boldly defend their backs.

All leaders need to get good and consistent verbal feedback from their teammates, but there are what I consider to be the “Golden 10″ pieces of feedback that we really need to be getting to ratify our effectiveness (and our approach to greatness).

Trying to predict the future with any precision is a fool’s game, but ignoring it is suicidal. The right approach lies somewhere between prediction and neglect. Recent research has revealed a positive correlation between a leader’s tolerance for ambiguity and the successful management of paradoxes: Troy University management professor Debra Hunter says that a high tolerance for ambiguity entails a tendency to perceive ambiguous situations as desirable, whereas people with a low tolerance see ambiguous situations as threatening. Clearly, tolerance for ambiguity can help a leader cope with an increasingly uncertain world. But how do you develop that tolerance?

There are five pervasive myths about communication. Putting them aside will make you a better leader.

When a top team fails to function, it can paralyze a whole company. Here’s what CEOs need to watch out for.

Managers need to have certain competencies to effectively influence the behaviors of others and ultimately achieve desired results. Some competencies come naturally, while others need to be learned and practiced. Organizations should spend time thinking through desired competencies and identify appropriate training options, such as for these 12 common leadership competencies.

Just what kind of leadership style should you have? You can weed them out by taking a look at these 11 leadership styles that you must avoid if you want to succeed.

Have you ever noticed how a pat on the back makes you feel great for days? Sadly, kudos from bosses are all too rare. Over the years, I've worked on acknowledging others for their efforts. I've managed to marry tough-minded performance standards with tender-heartedness. As I've looked back over the more than 30 years that have passed since my career began, I have come to realize that there are three rules for building appreciation.

It would be difficult to find a CEO or manager who says creativity isn't a valued attribute of a good leader. So why do so many once-innovative companies get bogged down over time, with continuous original thinking the exception and not the norm? A new study co-authored by Wharton management professor Jennifer Mueller found that although creativity is often named as being important, individuals who expressed more creative ideas were actually viewed as having less leadership potential than their peers.

Relying on formulas and the tried and true is not an unreasonable approach for a leader to solving a problem. But solving many of today’s complex problems -- and ultimately, outflanking the competition -- requires creative leadership. Specifically, today's leaders need to develop a new set of competencies that include paying attention, personalizing, imaging, serious play, collaborative inquiry, and crafting.

Because an infocracy is based on power created by access to widely available information, it demands a different type of leadership than a bureaucracy.

Most leaders don't realize that mindset and behavior are the twin drivers of change.

McKinsey's former managing director Ian Davis offers to new CEOs advice distilled from his experience supporting executives during their transitions into the role.

In my role as an executive coach, I am asked to work with extremely successful people who want to get even better. They are usually key executives in major corporations. They are almost always very intelligent, dedicated and persistent. They are committed to the success of their companies. They have high personal integrity. Many are financially independent. They are not working because they have to. They are working because they want to. Intellectually, they realize that the leadership behavior that was associated with yesterday’s results may not be the behavior that is needed to achieve tomorrow’s innovation.

Most of us can easily see the need to change the behavior of others. This is one of our great challenges in leadership. We wonder why it is so difficult for them to change. Yet, we often have difficulty in changing even small aspects of our own behavior! As we become more successful, it seems even harder to change. As Charles Handy has pointed out, the “paradox of success” occurs because we need to change before we have to change. However, “when things are going well we feel no reason to change.”

I have recently completed a review of research related to the topic of helping successful people change their behavior. Most research on behavioral change has focused on dysfunctional behavior with clear physiological consequences (e.g. alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders or smoking). A substantial amount has been written on why successful people succeed. Not surprisingly, very little has been written on the unique challenges involved in helping successful people change.

As a follower, we may not be able to change our leader's style. But we can help solve the problem by adjusting our own work style. Based on my experience — meeting with two or three CEOs a week for the past five years — I have come to think of leaders as falling into one of three categories. Being able to categorize which type of leader I'm working with has helped me figure out how to work most effectively with them.

We glorify our leaders and praise our visionary entrepreneurs, but Nancy Lublin says we should focus on the followers -- the people who get things done.