This book is a beginning, a first step, in taking leader development in organizations beyond conventional wisdom toward a scientifically sound research-based set of principles and practices. The authors looked beyond their own academic disciplines to bring to bear accumulated wisdom from researchers who have developed well-established and accepted theoretical perspectives on adult development processes in general, then wove in the ideas that have emerged in more targeted research on adult education, development of cognitive skills, identity development, self-regulation, moral and ethical development, and related topics. The authors present an integrative theory that provides a coherent framework for describing an understanding how leader development takes place.

David V. Day is the Woodside Professor of Leadership and Management at the University of Western Australia Business School. Since 1999 he has also held the position of Adjunct Research Scientist for the Center for Creative Leadership. Prof. Day has published extensively on the core topics of leadership and leadership development. He serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Leadership Quarterly, and Human Resource Management Review and is a Consulting Editor for several other influential journals in the field. Prof. Day is the lead editor on the book, Leader Development for Transforming Organizations: Growing Leaders for Tomorrow (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004) and the author of the publication Succession Planning and Leadership Development: Guidelines for Effective Talent Management (Society for Human Resource Management Foundation, 2007). Prof. Day is a member of the Academy of Management, International Leadership Association, International Association of Applied Psychology, Society of Organizational Behavior, and Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He received his Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology in 1989 from the University of Akron.

Michelle M. Harrison is junior lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the University of Limerick. She received her B.A. from St. Mary's University of Minnesota (2001) and her M.S. from The Pennsylvania State University (2004). In addition to examining the processes of leader development, her research focuses on understanding the influence of leadership on employee well-being at work, including factors such as meaningful work, work-life balance, and creativity.

Dr. Stanley M. Halpin (Stan) has worked for the Department of the Army for 38 years. He is also adjunct member of the faculty of the Graduate School, Kansas State University. For the last twenty-five years he has served as the Chief of the U.S. Army Research Institute's research group at Fort Leavenworth, KS. This group, until recently known as the Leader Development Research Unit, has conducted research on the U.S. Army's tactical decision making processes, staff performance, and development of training techniques for decision makers and decision making groups. Over the last few years the Research Unit has extended its research program to address leaders' interpersonal and team skills as well as cognitive skills. Stan has a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University (1965) and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Purdue University (1970).