The Psychology of Leadership: Timeless Principles to Improve Your Leadership of Individuals and Teams

by Sebastien Page

The Psychology of Leadership offers a revelatory fresh take on business leadership through the lens of groundbreaking research in positive, sports, and personality psychology.

Witty, conversational, and personal, The Psychology of Leadership blends research, fascinating true stories, humor, and self-improvement advice to deliver simple yet powerful principles to master the mental game of leadership.

Leaders will develop what feels like mind-reading abilities for interpreting workplace personalities, hidden motivations, and group dynamics. They will learn how to inspire their organization to move mountains, improve their ability to listen, communicate and, when necessary, persuade. Along the way they will dramatically improve their own mindset and resilience.
EditBuild

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Psychology, Management

304 pages, Hardcover

Published April 15, 2025

About the author

Sébastien has more than two decades of leadership experience. As an author, he believes breakthroughs often happen when experts venture outside their field. That is why, in "The Psychology of Leadership," he went beyond finance and economics to study research in psychology.

He is currently Head of Global Multi-Asset and Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price.

Sébastien won research paper awards from The Journal of Portfolio Management in 2003, 2010, 2011, and 2022 and the Financial Analysts Journal in 2010 and 2014. In addition to The Psychology of Leadership, he is the author of Beyond Diversification: What Every Investor Needs to Know About Asset Allocation (McGraw Hill, 2020) and the coauthor of Factor Investing and Asset Allocation (CFA Institute Research Foundation, 2016).

Sébastien is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Portfolio Management and the Financial Analysts Journal, and the Board of Directors of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance (Q Group). He regularly appears in the media, including Bloomberg TV and CNBC, and was recently named amongst the 15 Top Voices in Finance by LinkedIn.

Reviews

[Rahul Vishnoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Beyond Learning 101 of Leadership-
Review of 'The Psychology of Leadership'

Quote Alert
"𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲'𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 (𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞), 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞, 𝐢.𝐞., 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 (𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧). 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞."


The Psychology of Leadership helps you not only learn the 101 of leadership, it goes steps beyond and helps you debunk the myths. It assists you unlearn the old rules and learn the new school rules.
There are compilation of notes and lessons that will definitely make you think differently about the familiar stuff. These notes are the insights collected and collated over years of observations, conversations and learnings. The learnings in this book have been distilled across markets, practitioners, academics, students, teachers and even sceptics about the discipline of marketing.

The author talks about PERMA model. It was developed by Martin Seligman, who's considered the founder of positive psychology. He writes -
'PERMA describes five dimensions of happiness: positive emotions P) engagement (E), relationships(R), meaning (M), and accomplishments (A). The key takeaway is that happiness is not just about positive emotions.'

There are many more such witty learnings packed in the book. A must for business people.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Sebastien Page says, this book is not about groundbreaking or new practices, but draws from history and modern science. More than a leadership guide, it offers qualities and practices that everyone can benefit from. It provides a deep understanding of human nature and group dynamics with personal anecdotes that connect the practices and ideas with reality.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good read.

[Luke Joerger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real, grounded, and genuinely useful — that’s how I’d describe The Psychology of Leadership by Sébastien Page.
I’ve read a handful of leadership books, and this one stood out because it blends science + story + real talk rather than just preaching from a pedestal. Page leans on positive, sports, and personality psychology to give tools—not empty slogans—for understanding yourself and others.

What I loved
* Self first, then others
One of Page’s big themes is: you can’t lead others well until you understand your own mindset, biases, and internal pressures. That honesty gives the rest of the lessons more credibility.
* Interpreting personality & hidden motivations
He gives practical frameworks for reading people—what drives them, how they respond to stress or feedback—and how to adjust accordingly. I found the sections on personality traits especially illuminating.
* Goal-setting, success, and meaning
Page challenges the standard idea of “success” and weaves in psychological research around happiness, meaning, and resilience. The goal is to lead in a way that’s effective and sustainable.
* Conversational tone + real examples
This isn’t a dry academic book. It’s witty, conversational, sprinkled with stories from sports, business, and personal life—makes it easier to absorb and apply.

If you lead a team (or want to), or even just want to understand how to “manage up” or communicate better, this is a book you’ll go back to. It doesn’t promise overnight transformations, but gives tools you can use and test.
I came away feeling more equipped—not just with theories, but with mental frameworks I can use tomorrow. If I were to pick one word: empowering. Highly recommend.

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who works in a leadership role, I'm always seeking ways to challenge and improve my leadership skills, so I thought the Psychology of Leadership would be the perfect read.

That said, the subtitle tells me that there's nothing really groundbreaking in here. If you've led anyone, you are already familiar with the principles presented by Page. If you've ever taken any personality tests, training or read any other book on psychology you can guess what Page has to say on personality and leadership.

It's not a bad read, but it's not ground-breaking and it won't teach you anything new. You can probably save yourself a lot of time by skipping ahead to the "Takeaways" section of each principle. It'll teach you everything you need to know in a tenth of the time.

Additionally, most of this is geared towards teams that need to perform in a statistically drive way (think financial or sales teams) which isn't relevant to my work.

The real strength is Page's writing style and the format of the book. Page writes in a casual, yet educational and engaging way and breaking it down into principles makes the material easy to digest and a relatively quick read. Summaries at the end of each principle and each section reinforce the learning; but again, as long as you're not a complete leadership greenhorn you could probably just skip to the summaries.

Not bad, but definitely more applicable to those very new to leadership.

[Bookwises · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It looks at leadership from a totally different angle. Instead of just listing rules, it helps you understand the why behind people's actions. The author makes it all feel very relatable with his stories and jokes.

The part about understanding different personalities at work was an eye-opener for me. It gave me new ideas for how to connect with my coworkers. It's a smart book that doesn't feel like homework. I’d recommend it to any leader who wants to try a fresh approach.

[AMAO · Rating 5 out of 5]

💯💯💯💯💯💯

[Binh Thai · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent book on leadership principles applicable to daily lives and work

[Taylor Slavens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this book was a great read. I enjoy changing up my reading generes and this was a great one to change things up. I do love books that bring forward information to help you grow, especially when they can be applied to myself or in my job. This book doesn't bring forward any ground breaking new concepts of leadership psychology but the concepts Sebastien does bring up were so relatable for me. The way he described them made it easy to comprehend and think of ways these concepts could help me personally. I thouroughly enjoyed some of the personal examples he gave throughout the book because I work in finance world as well. It was cool to read about his own experiences and examples because I could see how some of it could fit into into my world too. It's always fun when you read something and can personlly relate. This was an easy read.

Thank you to to Sebastien Page and publishers for the free copy of this book. It was a great read.

[Joe Nuttapong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is not about Leadership but more about how to set Goal and achieve Happiness. OK for a casual read.

[Juha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirjassa oli hyvä flow, selkeä rakenne ja paljon persoonaa mukana. Tykkäsin monista kohdista.

[Kayla Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not “bad mouthing” this book whatsoever, but I needed to give it a three-star rating as it is not a book about leadership, nor psychology, and it is definitely not about leadership psychology, at least not in the regards of discussing the normal twenty plus leadership theories that are existent today. Side note: not even “Great Man Theory” is brought up in this book.
Pros: As I am writing a dissertation regarding a newer theory in leadership psychology, this book is assisting me with what it is: motivational leadership (despite being a secondary source at best). The book does use a lot of sports metaphors and is a great tool regarding metaphorical leadership with useful tips for novice leaders and businesses who are struggling to figure out why there are shortfalls in production although they keep talking about the same issues ad mortem. Lastly, the book is a very quick read as it is written as more of an opinion piece.
Cons: simply put, this book is not scholarly. The author (thankfully) admits that they do not have a background in leadership or psychology quite early on but rather an extensive background in finance, which he grandstands about on page 54 turning the work into a traditional “pissing contest” normally heard between Operations and HR on “who’s more important”. Beyond that, the author speaks on Elkington’s Triple-Bottom Line sustainability methodology without really knowing what it is, hints (or half-plagiarizes) John Kotter’s eight step process on leading change and knocks Simon Sinek on being a marketer rather than a speaker on leadership. I don’t know the author, but someone might want to let them know that while Mr. Sinek is talked about quite a bit in lecture halls while taking organizational leadership courses, no one talks about Sebastian Page, (I bought this book hoping it would expound on Cutler’s work).
In the end, again, I will be adding two to three quotes from this book into my dissertation, but it will be as a tertiary source outlining very basic leadership principles within a motivational premise normally associated with high school and college sports/athletics.
If you are looking for an actual book on leadership psychology, I would recommend Alan Cutler’s: Leadership Psychology.