The building blocks of leader development: A psychological conceptual framework

Micha Popper is the Head of the Organizational Psychology Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Haifa, Israel, founder and Director of the Center for Outstanding Leadership in Zikhron Yaakov, Israel, a scholar of the US Army Research Institute (ARI), and was Visiting Professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada (2001‐2002). Micha Popper is the author of five books and over 70 articles in refereed journals and books. His research and consulting concern the dynamics of leader‐follower relationships, the developmental aspects of leaders, and organizational learning. Micha Popper holds a PhD from Tel‐Aviv University, an MA from Tel‐Aviv University and a BA from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Psychology and Sociology). Micha Popper is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: mpopper@psy.haifa.ac.il Ofra Mayseless received her PhD from the Psychology Department of Tel‐Aviv University in 1984. She is a certified clinical psychologist and a Professor of Developmental Psychology, and the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa in Israel. She has written over 60 articles and chapters in the area of close relationships, in particular adolescents' and adults' attachment and caregiving manifestations, for example parenting, love relationships, friendships and changes in close relationships and individuation during the transition to adulthood. Her current research focuses on the caregiving/nurturing motivational system as it manifests itself in leadership, parenting, and role reversal as well as in how it relates to the spiritual realm and spiritual development.