Conclusions: What we love now and where the CIP theory can still take us

The suggestion of Charismatic, Ideological, and Pragmatic (CIP) being a diversity-friendly theory, then, might strike the reader as a mismatched recommendation. Although the theory was built on a largely white male foundation, the core elements embrace the notion that there are multiple ways to be a successful leader. In working on all CIP projects over the 10+ years, including those that have not made their way into print just yet, the one result that emerges as the most striking is, counterintuitively, a “non-finding”. To close things out, although reviews of the CIP research describe the strong support the theory has garnered for its main propositions over the years, these summative efforts have also stressed that key conceptual and methodological advancements are necessary to help extend the theory’s scholarly and practical impact.