No handbook of organizational politics would be complete without the recognition of the intricate connection between social influence and leadership processes. In fact, there is a long-standing recognition that organizations are not rational systems, but instead are political arenas in which leaders are tasked with managing and shaping competing interests over time (Mintzberg, 1983, 1985). Accordingly, leadership is inherently a social influence process requiring that leaders induce subordinates to pursue a certain course of action in the absence of coercion or force (Kotter, 2008). Burgeoning interest in politics and leadership has been fueled by the separate, yet complementary, acknowledgment by both Pfeffer (1981) and Mintzberg (1983) regarding the necessity of political skill in bringing about successful (ie effective) influence attempts. Further, in more recent years, increased/renewed interest in politics and influence within the context of leadership was sparked by calls for political theories of leadership (House and Aditya, 1997), The Leadership Quarterly’s 2004 special issue on leadership from a political lens, an entire section of the original Handbook of Organizational Politics (Vigoda-Gadot and Drory, 2006) devoted to the intersection of politics and leadership, and the explication of a social/political influence theory by Ferris and colleagues (Ferris et al., 2007). As a result, a wealth of empirical evidence has amassed, positioning political skill as a powerful and comprehensive social competency (Munyon et al., 2015).

Political skill is formally defined as “the ability to effectively understand others at work and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal and/or organizational objectives”(Ferris et al., 2005, p. 127). Political skill is couched as a critical workplace competency with cognitive, affective and behavioral manifestations (Ferris et al., 2007) suggesting that politically skilled individuals can read and understand people and situations (interpersonal influence), appear sincere and devoid of ulterior motives (apparent sincerity), behave in situationally