Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership Leadership Pathology in Everyday Life

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.

Part I

1              Do you want to be led by a dictator?

2              Trumpmania

3              The ugly American

4              Not all narcissists are created equal

5              Do you identify with the aggressor?

6              The making of a bully

7              Are you addicted to power?

8              Mission (im)possible: Dealing with narcissistic executives

9              Developing leaders through adversity

Part II

10           A tale of two organizations: creating the authentizotic

              organization

11           The CEO mega-pay bonanza

12           Saving a family business from emotional dysfunction

13           The wise fool

14           Down and out in “beggar land”

15           Don’t let shame become a self-destructive spiral

16           What’s pushed out the door will come back through the window

17           What good is empathy?

18           Are you suffering from DAD?

19           Accepting your shadow side

20           Beyond coaching BS

21           What Happened to Prince and Princess Charming?

23           What next?

24           The epitaph question

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change at INSEAD, the Founder of INSEAD’s Global Leadership Centre, Program Director of INSEAD’s top management program, “The Challenge of Leadership: Developing Your Emotional Intelligence”, and Scientific Director of the Executive Master’s program “Consulting and Coaching for Change”.