Attachment and leadership: review and new insights Ofra Mayseless and Micha Popper Attachment theory has inspired a new view on the topic of leadership, enabling a better understanding of leader–follower relations by acknowledging how attachment dynamics and the evolutionary foundations of human relationships apply in organizational contexts. Early research mainly focused on individual differences and demonstrated the association between attachment orientations (security, anxiety, and avoidance) the emergence of leaders and their behaviors (i.e., leadership style). More recent research has focused on the attachment orientations of both leaders and followers, the role of moderating and mediating variables, and the provision of secure-base support and caring orientations of leaders. However, recent research on ‘followership’ highlights the centrality of leader competence and followers’ capacity to identify, and willingness to follow, leaders who demonstrate this quality. We analyze the significance of competence in the context of attachment and leadership and suggest a new Care and Competence Model based on evolutionary claims. Address University of Haifa, Israel Corresponding author: Mayseless, Ofra (ofram@edu.haifa.ac.il) Current Opinion in Psychology 2019, 25:157–161 This review comes from a themed issue on Attachment in adulthood Edited by Jeffry A Simpson and Gery Karantzas https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.08.003 2352-250X/ã 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Introduction In this paper, we present the core tenets of the connection between attachment theory and leadership. We also review the relevant literature which has mainly focused on the interplay between attachment orientations and leader–follower relations. Our review suggests that in the preceding seven years following the last major review, there has been little by way of extensive theoretical and empirical work on this subject. Based on new develop- ments in the study of ‘followership,’ we offer insights that can open up new conceptual and empirical avenues that may further advance the integration between attachment theory and leadership models. Core tenets of the connection between attachment theory and leadership The application of attachment theory to the study of adult relationships has inspired research into a diverse range of relationship contexts including leadership and leader–fol- lower relations [1–4]. The main tenet underpinning the link between adult attachment and leadership is that the emotional aspects of leader–follower relations reflect attachment dynamics analogous to those that characterize infants and children with their caregivers. Such similarity rests on evolutionary foundations where a needy figure (e.g. small or immature) is phylogenetically ready motivationally and by having specific innate mechanisms to form emo- tional attachment relations with a stronger and wiser other (see Table 1 for a summary of the major tenets of this view). In this respect, attachment theory provided a much needed explanation for the often strong emotional ties between followers and leaders, noted in the literature [4,5] — ties that are more visible in times of uncertainty and crisis [5]. Likening the leader to a parental figure served to shed light on a variety of leader–follower relational dynamics [e.g., 6]. Review of research on attachment and leadership Previous research in this domain showed, as expected, that most leaders tend to have a secure attachment style and that this is associated with positive leadership styles, such as transformational leadership, socialized charis- matic leadership, and relational-oriented leadership. Leaders’ security was also associated with effectiveness and with positive outcomes for followers (e.g., felt secu- rity and well-being) [see reviews in [7,8,9  ]]. Studies in the past seven years focused on more nuanced aspects of individual differences in attachment orienta- tions of leaders and followers and examined the operation of moderating and mediating aspects. For example, Richards and Hackett [10] demonstrated that attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance of both followers and leaders affected their own report of the quality of leader– member exchanges (LMX) but not the report of their work colleague (either leader or follower respectively). In addition, they underscored the importance of emotion regulation strategies, demonstrating that the use of reap- praisal and suppression by either leaders or subordinates with attachment anxiety contributed to higher quality LMX. Similarly, Kafetsios et al. [11] found that in organizations, supervisors’ anxious attachment orientation was Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com Current Opinion in Psychology 2019, 25:157–161