ABSTRACT
What makes a political CEO? How does a CEO impact corporate political behavior? For most CEOs, politics and the political arena are venues to be avoided. To most CEOs, politics is only an episodic encounter—and often too much at that. Four ideal type corporate political leaders are identified: the entrepreneur, the evangelist, the reluctant, and the graduate. The chapter isolates those key factors that make a CEO a politically competent CEO with particular attention to individual personality, motivations, firm resources, firm structure, and political skill sets.
