Crisis Leadership: The Cognitive-Affective Personality Traits Approach.

Crisis leadership demands a specific constellation of psychological resources that defines the effectiveness of true leaders. Going beyond the commonly cited leadership styles, this paper draws upon the fundamental overt and covert behavioral processes that make a leader effective. The three intra-individual subsystems of cognition, affect and personality traits in the triangular-reciprocal nature determine the level to which a leader is successful in crisis management. In this cognitive-affective personality traits approach, the cognitive structures and processes, the affective dynamics and the constellation of personality traits are the differential variations that set apart an effective leader from an ineffective one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]