Journal of Managerial Psychology 17,4 316 Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 17 No. 4, 2002, pp. 316-324. # MCB UP Limited, 0268-3946 DOI 10.1108/02683940210428119 Received October 2001 Revised November 2001 Accepted February 2002 Fitness and leadership: is there a relationship? Regular exercise correlates with higher leadership ratings in senior-level executives Sharon L. McDowell-Larsen Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Leigh Kearney Summit Leadership Solutions, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, and David Campbell Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Keywords Fitness, Exercise, Leadership, Executives Abstract The purpose of this research was to determine how regular exercise impacted leadership scores on two multi-rater leadership assessment instruments ± the Executive Success Profile 1 ESP), and the Campbell Leadership Index TM CLI). Since 1997, data have been collected from over 600 senior-level executives attending Leadership at the Peak, a five-day course at the Center for Creative Leadership. Prior to attending, the participants completed a health and physical activity questionnaire that included questions about their exercise, dietary and smoking habits and assessment data were collected from both the participants and their observers. After they arrived at the program, fitness professionals collected additional data including percent body fat, blood-pressure and exercise routine. The health data were compared with the results of the ESP and CLI. These instruments required a self-assessment of performance on various leadership indices along with parallel ratings by an observer group of bosses, subordinates and peers. The results indicated that the observers rated exercisers significantly higher than the non- exercisers on many of the ESP and CLI scales. The weighted averages of all the scales for both instruments were also significantly higher for the exercisers. Further, the bosses also rated smokers lower on 14 out of 22 ESP scales compared with those who had never smoked. Overall, these data indicate that engaging in regular exercise is positively correlated with how others rated executives on various leadership indices. Introduction The Leadership at the Peak LAP) is a week-long program designed for top executives. The program, conducted at the Center for Creative Leadership's CCL) campus in Colorado Springs as well as in Europe, is delivered approximately 18 times a year and gives participants the rare opportunity to join a small, powerful group of their peers six to 12 people) in evaluating their leadership skills and potential. The corner-stones of the program are psychological and physiological assessment, feedback on current leadership impact,andsuggestionsforfuturedevelopment. An important component of the course is The Fitness for Leadership module, which is interwoven throughout the week and includes feedback on The research register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0268-3946.htm