Bringing together cases written by experienced leadership and executive coaches from all over the world, this project explores the most demanding and challenging situations they have faced in their professional practices. By analysing and reflecting on the real life case studies the authors show how to deal with these situations in daily life.
Insightful essays explode the myth that rationality is what governs the behavior of leaders and followers, and provide a more realistic perspective on organizational functioning that takes into account the profound psychological force at work in the leader-follower relationship. Cites examples from business, history, literature, and arts to identify distinct leader types. Numerous case studies of both successful and failed leaders give consultants and managers the tools to detect and act on problems in leadership, offers organizational behaviorists a better understanding of the leader-follower dynamic, and gives leaders the means to transform themselves.
"In these most turbulent of times when enlightened leadership is needed more than ever, relying simply on knowledge, data and information as the sources for our decisions can only direct us toward solutions too superficial to solve the problems before us. We must look instead to ground our leadership in a deeper and more subtle form of discernment--wisdom. As a pioneering practitioner and educator in the field of clinical and psychodynamic-systemic executive coaching, Kets de Vries is in a unique position to shed light on this path. His compact, reflective volume begins with three chapters that lay the foundation for our understanding of wisdom and our grasping of what he calls the 'wisdom equation'. These chapters are followed by eight lessons on wisdom, each focusing on a particular aspect of wisdom or on developing a related skill. Woven throughout are anecdotes and tales from various spiritual and cultural traditions that enrich and give deeper significance to his argument. This small volume serves as an invitation to explore the importance of wisdom as a foundational principle in our lives and a powerful vehicle for generating the kind of reflective leaders most needed in our troubled world."-- Provided by publisher
How to Survive When Dancing on Quicksand
Also touching upon mental health issues and how organizations should deal with this, this section gives a deep insight into the leadership issues that we now face in what might be termed 'the new normal.'Finally, Kets de Vries places societal issues under the microscope.
The Existential Challenges of Leaders
Instead, Kets de Vries shows that our life is enriched, and our ability to make meaning and find happiness is increased, when we acknowledge the inevitable price we have to pay for knowing our own mind and understanding our inevitable end.
A pro-active book containing clear strategies to become happier and live a more fulfilling life. Through his coaching work with senior executives, the author has come to the conclusion that self-knowledge and the pursuit of happiness are inextricably linked. He has revealed the four keys to happiness: maintain a positive state of mind; be self-reliant and use your initaiative; accept that self pity and quitting don't bring happiness; strive to feel in control.
Looks at entrepreneurship, the pathology of leadership, and the personality of the leader.
World-renowned management guru and expert in corporate neurosis Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries puts organizations on the couch. By combining the dismal science of management and the impossible profession of psychoanalysis, Kets de Vries presents eclectic advice on how things really work in organizations.These brief and insightful essays not only decipher problems that are common in organizational life, but they also shed light on some of the underlying dimensions that often go unnoticed.Kets de Vries covers everything from leadership and entrepreneurship to downsizing and managing acquisitions, using contemporary examples like Robert Maxwell, Jack Welch, Tom Peters, Robert Coles, and John Gardner.
The rise of populist movements and their often dangerous leaders raises critical questions about the conditions fostering such developments. This collection of essays delves into the deeper dynamics between leaders and followers, utilizing insights from psychoanalytic, developmental, neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology to uncover the pathological relationships that underpin these movements. The author employs a unique analytical style, drawing on myths, fairy tales, irony, and metaphor to illuminate his findings and provoke new insights. Effective leaders unite and uplift their followers, embodying values and setting a moral tone. However, when this moral compass is absent or distorted, leadership can become perilous. History has shown the catastrophic consequences of unchecked, unhinged leaders. Understanding the factors that enable such leaders is now a moral imperative. Through engaging and thought-provoking narratives, this work equips readers to confront this challenge. The author is a Distinguished Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change at INSEAD, founder of its Global Leadership Centre, and has directed numerous top management programs. He is recognized as a leading management thinker, with a vast array of publications and accolades, including honorary doctorates and fellowships in prestigious organizations.
Spend some time with three of today's most noted business pioneers and share their secrets for achieving international success. The New Global Leaders takes readers into the private worlds of Asea Brown Boveri's Percy Barnevik, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and British Petroleum titan David Simon to provide rare and candid profiles of how these charismatic leaders have redefined organizational growth and development in the latter 20th century. The authors were granted unprecedented access to these men and the results are as fascinating as they are informative. Readers are treated to personal interviews with these very powerful and very different personalities, each of whom provides a behind-the-scenes account of how he put his company on the global map. Sharing their philosophies, visions, and strategies, they exemplify leadership in an age of rapid and relentless change and provide new models of success for our post-industrial era.
