Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership: Leadership Pathology in Everyday Life

Description

In the previous book in this series, Manfred Kets de Vries observed the experiences of leaders on a rollercoaster ride through their professional and personal lives. Now, he follows them down the rabbit hole into the unknown, where, like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, they find a dystopian Wonderland in which everyone seems to have gone mad and life functions according to its own crazy logic, throwing up all kinds of obstacles in the search for truth. Understanding what is happening around us has become more difficult than ever in the Age of Trump. Don’t imperatives like “build that wall” sound very much like “Off with his head”? Unfortunately, and unlike Alice, we are not going to wake up from a bad dream and discover that everything is “nothing but a pack of cards”. The first part of this book looks at the psychodynamics of leadership in both a business and a political context. The second focuses on the psychopathology of everyday life in organizations and the seemingly endless ways people can make a mess of things – including mega pay packages, acting out, digital addiction and other dysfunctional behaviour patterns. Each chapter ends with a brief anecdote to illustrate the dilemma it presents. In short, sharp nuggets, Kets de Vries helps make sense of how the madness of the present has affected leadership in organizations and the workplace. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Introduction (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 3-15 Do You Want to Be Led by a Dictator? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 17-24 Trumpmania (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 25-34 The Ugly American (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 35-41 Not All Narcissists Are Created Equal (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 43-47 Do You Identify with the Aggressor? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 49-53 The Making of a Bully (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 55-60 Are You Addicted to Power? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 61-66 Mission (Im)possible: Dealing with Narcissistic Executives (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 67-71 Developing Leaders Through Adversity (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 73-78 Front Matter ....Pages 79-79 A Tale of Two Organizations: Creating Best Places to Work (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 81-86 The CEO Mega-Pay Bonanza (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 87-94 The Money Delusion (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 95-99 Saving a Family Business from Emotional Dysfunction (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 101-105 The Wise Fool (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 107-110 Down and Out in Beggarland (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 111-116 Don’t Let Shame Become a Self-Destructive Spiral (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 117-122 What’s Pushed Out the Door Will Come Back Through the Window (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 123-127 What Good Is Empathy? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 129-133 Are You Suffering from D.A.D.? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 135-139 Accepting Your Shadow Side (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 141-146 Beyond Coaching BS (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 147-151 What Happened to Prince and Princess Charming? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 153-158 Why Wisdom Can’t Be Taught (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 159-164 What Next? (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 165-170 The Epitaph Question (Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries)....Pages 171-174 Back Matter ....Pages 175-186