The Leader on the Couch A Clinical Approach

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.

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 Center. He is responsible for the top management seminar, The Challenge of Leadership: Creating Reflective Leaders and the program Consulting andCoaching 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.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

About the Author.

1. Introduction: The Clinical Paradigm.

Giving the Unconscious Its Due.

Tapping into Psychoanalytic Theories and Techniques.

Philosophical Underpinnings of the Clinical Paradigm.

The Inner Theater.

Motivational Need Systems.

Core Conflictual Relationship Themes.

Using the Clinical Paradigm to Rewrite Dysfunctional Scripts.

References.

PART ONE. ENTERING THE INNER THEATER OF LEADERS.

2. The Narcissistic Leader: Myth and Reality.

Back to the Future.

Two Modern Myths: Healthy Neglect and Tough Love.

Narcissistic Personality Disorders.

Another Fine Messier.

Lost in Space: Introducing the T-word.

Downsizing the Narcissist.

References.

3. A Parade of Personalities.

A Question of Character.

Assessing Leaders and Followers.

The Dramatic Disposition.

The Dramatic Individual within the Organization.

The Controlling Disposition.

The Controlling Individual within the Organization.

The Dependent Disposition.

The Dependent Individual within the Organization.

The Self-defeating Disposition.

The Self-defeating Individual within the Organization.

References.

4. Leaders and Followers: Moving Away from People.

The Detached Disposition.

The Detached Individual within the Organization.

The Depressive Disposition.

Depressives within the Organization.

References.

5. Leaders and Followers: Moving Against People.

The Abrasive Disposition.

Abrasives within the Organization.

The Paranoid Disposition.

The Paranoid Disposition within the Organization.

The Negativistic Disposition.

The Negativistic Individual within the Organization.

The Antisocial Disposition.

Antisocials within the Organization.

Prototypes and Beyond.

Table 5.1: An overview of the spectrum of personalities.

References.

6. Elation and Its Vicissitudes.

The Gift and Curse of Charisma.

The Sirens of Hypomania.

Surviving the “Maniac”.

References.

7. The Impostor Syndrome: The Shadow Side of Success.

Being a Fraud versus Feeling Fraudulent.

The Fear of Success.

The Dread of Not Living Up to Expectations.

Infecting the Organization.

A Search for Origins.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel.

References.

PART TWO. CHANGING MINDSETS.

8. Can Leaders Change? Yes, But Only If They Want To.

Why Ride a Dead Horse?

Change and the Triangle of Mental Life.

Figure 8.1: Triangle of mental life.

Hitting Your Head against the Wall.

The CEO “Recycling” Seminar.

Looking in on “The Challenge of Leadership”.

Theoretical Underpinnings.

References.

9. Taking the Road Less Traveled.

Owning Your Own Life.

Challenge 1: Preparing for the Journey.

Case Study.

Catalysts for Change.

Challenge 2: Identifying the Problem.

Major Themes for Executives.

The Triangle of Conflict.

Figure 9.1: Triangle of conflict.

Challenge 3: Unhooking “False Connections”.

Figure 9.2: Triangle of relationships.

Linking the Past with the Present.

Challenge 4: Creating a Holding Environment.

Challenge 5: Actively Working on the Problem.

Restructuring the Inner Theater.

Keeping on Track.

Challenge 6: Consolidating the Change.

Making the Best of a Poor Hand of Cards.

References.

10. Coach or Couch, Anybody?

Who Are the Clients?

What Is Leadership Coaching?

Short-Term Psychotherapy versus Leadership Coaching.

The Coaching Parade.

The Fundamentals of Coaching: Why and How.

What Makes for Coaching Success?

The Vicissitudes of Leadership Coaching.

References.

11. Group Leadership Coaching.

A Case in Point.

Getting Started.

Gathering Data.

Figure 11.1: Sample Personal Graph.

Figure 11.2: Sample Personality Audit graph.

Group Leadership Coaching Dynamics.

Creating High-EQ Teams.

Figure 11.3: Leadership group coaching.

Making Group Leadership Coaching Work in Executive Teams.

The Role of Commitment and Follow-up.

The Role of Storytelling.

The Role of Trust.

References.

PART THREE. UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS.

12. The Unconscious Life of Groups and Organizations.

Basic Group Assumptions.

The Organizational Ideal.

Neurotic Organizations.

Organizational Archetypes.

Strengths of Each Style.

Placing Leaders on the Couch.

References.

13. Unraveling the Mystery of Organizations.

Clinical Organizational Interventions.

Focal Areas of Intervention.

The Prickly CEO.

Through the Looking Glass: The Stratec Collusion.

Consulting with the Third Ear.

Connecting with a Clinically Informed Consultant.

Staying in for the Long Haul.

Emulating Sherlock Holmes.

References.

14. Conclusion: Creating “Authentizotic” Organizations.

Transcending the Leadership Crisis.

True Self versus False Self.

Authenticity: Beyond the Gulag Organization.

Leadership in the New World of Work.

Authentizotic Organizations.

References.

Index.

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

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials