With neo-charismatic leadership (Bass, 1985; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990) and the process-based view of acquisitions (Haspeslagh & Jemison, 199 I) as our foundation, we envision success in premerger preparation and postmerger integration as demanding different aspects of CEO neo-charismatic leadership. Our model examines how situational demands translate into specific leadership role requirements. It suggests what a CEO is supposed to do to ensure merger success. Finally, we envision that the premerger demands, leadership role requirements, and neo-charismatic behaviors are representative of what is expected from both the acquirer's CEO and the target's CEO. Naturally, our rationalization of the neocharismatic leadership at the postmerger applies to the CEO of the unified firm alone.