Abstract
This review investigates the psychological foundations of leadership theories to discover what skills enable effective leaders to lead across sectors and decades with a focus on organizational leadership. The research questions explore the ability of these leaders to consistently address conflict and challenges effectively regardless of context (public/private); and to explore the notion that such leaders are not necessarily born, and that these leadership practices can be developed. With a focus on the transformational, authentic, academic, social entrepreneur, and cross-organizational leadership theoretical models, the undergirding to these theories is explored through the influences of personality characteristics and traits, as well as the moral and ethical components involved in the development of these leaders. Three prominent community leaders are profiled to demonstrate how aspects of personality and experiences provide the how and why behind these leadership theories when applied to actual circumstances.