The Leader on the Couch: A Clinical Approach to Changing People and Organizations

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

Jan 2011 · Sold by John Wiley & Sons

About this ebook

Despite the proven benefits of emotional intelligence, organizational life has typically been hostile to the inner world of feeling. Rationality is deemed superior to feeling, which can contaminate judgment. But without feeling there is no passion, and no action. This book sets out to change people and organizations for the better, by revealing the 'dark side' of leadership behaviour and its impact on performance. Tapping into the startling parallels between the journey to emotional intelligence, the process of psychoanalysis, the practice of leadership coaching and the Zen journey to enlightenment, renowned thinker Manfred Kets de Vries helps executives, consultants, and coaches to peel back the layers of self-deception and reveal how inner personality – largely hard-wired since early childhood – affects the way they lead and manage others.

About the author

Recently awarded the Leadership Scholar of the Year prize by the International Leadership Association, Manfred Kets de Vries brings a different view to the much-studied subjects of leadership and the dynamics of individual and organizational change.

The Financial Times, Le Capital, Wirtschaftswoche and The Economist have judged Manfred one of the world's leading thinkers on leadership.

A clinical professor of leadership, he is Chair of Leadership Development and director of INSEAD's Global Leadership Centre. He is responsible for the top management seminar, The Challenge of Leadership: Creating Reflective Leaders and the program Consulting and Coaching for Change.

Manfred has received INSEAD's distinguished teacher award 5 times and has also held professorships at McGill University, Montreal, Harvard Business School and Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales.

Author, co-author or editor of over 22 books and over 200 articles, his work has featured regularly in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune and many other professional press publications.