Three studies were conducted to build, test, and compare a model of character-based leadership. The first qualitative study used the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1949) and Peterson and Seligman's (2004) comprehensive theoretical framework of character strengths to develop and construct a scale. The second study tested the scale's psychometric properties. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that character-based leadership is a three-dimensional construct and demonstrates adequate content validity. The third study tested the new scale against organizational and personal outcome measures. The resulting structural model provided a strong fit. Relationships emerged between leader wisdom and employee affective commitment, leader humanity and employee wellbeing, employee organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs), employee cognitive trust, and employee affective trust, and between leader temperance and employee trust.