Developing Sustainable Leaders Through Coaching and Compassion RICHARD E. BOYATZIS MELVIN L. SMITH NANCY BLAIZE Case Western Reserve University By integrating recent findings in affective neuroscience and biology with well- documented research on leadership and stress, we offer a more holistic approach to leadership development. We argue here that leader sustainability is adversely affected by the psychological and physiological effects of chronic power stress associated with the performance of the leadership role. We further contend, however, that when leaders experience compassion through coaching the development of others, they experience psychophysiological effects that restore the body’s natural healing and growth processes, thus enhancing their sustainability. We thus suggest that to sustain their effectiveness, leaders should emphasize coaching as a key part of their role and behavioral habits. Implications for future research on leadership and leadership development are discussed, as well as implications for the practice of leadership development and education. ........................................................................................................................................................................ One purpose of management education is to de- velop people to be leaders of organizations and institutions for the future. The manner in which we approach the development of leaders is largely dependent on our concept of leadership. A variety of leadership theories have been offered over the past several decades (see Yukl & Van Fleet, 1990). “Great person” theories of leadership seek to un- derstand what an effective leader does (Bennis & Nanus, 1985) or what dispositional characteristics enable a person to be a leader. These characteris- tics range from cognitive ability (i.e., general g) to traits (e.g., extroversion), motives such as McClel- land’s (1975) need for power or charisma (Conger & Kanungo, 1987; House, 1977), or transformational leadership style (Bass, 1985, 1990). A contingency theory of leadership tries to explain what types of leaders are needed for organizational effective- ness in various settings (Bass 1990; Boyatzis, 1982; Fiedler, 1967; Hersey & Blanchard, 1969; Kotter, 1988; Yukl, 1998). More recent approaches to under- standing leadership (e.g., vertical dyad linkage or leader-member exchange) seek to understand re- lational aspects, including the leader’s ability to interact with others (Dansereau, Graen, & Haga, 1975; Kelly, 1992; Kram & Cherniss, 2001). These theories are the basis for our efforts to develop leaders; however, few if any theories of leadership have considered physiological aspects. By integrating the latest findings in affective neuroscience with well-documented and recently discovered findings in biology and stress research, we expand the discussion of leadership and lead- ership development beyond previously considered factors. Utilizing a more holistic approach to lead- ership development, we propose that leaders may better sustain themselves by balancing the poten- tially stressful effects of exercising leadership with the ameliorative effects of coaching the de- velopment of others. The structure of this article is as follows: We begin by exploring the potential effects of stress from performing the leadership role. We then illus- trate how this threatens leaders’ ability to sustain themselves over time. Going beyond the tradi- tional view of coaching as a means of developing Richard Boyatzis and Melvin Smith are professors in the De- partment of Organizational Behavior, Weatherhead School of Management, and Nancy Blaize is an MBA graduate of Weath- erhead School of Management. Communications should be sent to the first author. The authors wish to thank Professors Kathy Kram and Jane Dutton for feedback on earlier drafts and mem- bers of the Coaching Study group at Case.  Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 1, 8–24. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8