Most of the chapters in this volume were presented as papers at a small research conference held in 2001 at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The purpose of this conference was to explore new ideas about the psychology of leadership, an important and long-enduring research topic within the field of social psychology. It was the opinion of the editors of this book and the conveners of the conference that the social psychological study of leadership had launched off into several new, interesting, and important directions