This chapter examines how the personality of political leaders shapes their ability to campaign effectively, win votes and achieve success once in political office. We begin by examining how personality has been conceptualised in politics and why it is considered important. In our discussion of personality, we include psychological traits, such as the ‘big five’ (e.g., Extroversion, Conscientiousness), and Machiavellianism or charisma, but also individual characteristics including motivation, intelligence and traits ascribed to individuals based on their biological features, such as height. Next, we review existing research to examine the relevance of personality for leadership emergence (i.e. how personality contributes to individuals becoming political leaders), and leadership effectiveness (i.e. how personality may contribute to successful performance in political office). Finally, we examine the methods that researchers have used to examine personality and political leadership and consider future directions for research. The use of relevant measures of personality is considered as well as enhanced approaches to their analysis.