The Daily Perils of Executive Life

The Daily Perils of Executive Life
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2022-02-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783030917593

During a period of enforced solitude during the Covid-19 pandemic, Manfred Kets de Vries became introspective, reflective, and considered how executives could emerge from unprecedented global events. The result is a collection of 23 thought-provoking and focused chapters to help executives take stock and re-evaluate their path during a time of uncertainty. Beginning with essays on ‘Managing Self,’ Kets de Vries starts with people’s search for meaning and how we can deal with this important question. Given our need for meaning, the question of human energy is discussed. What gives executives energy? What makes them feel alive? How best to use this energy? Several essays in this section deal with the effects of the pandemic on people’s perception and management of time. The second section focuses on leadership and highlights several executive types you’ve probably encountered at work and struggle to deal with; complainers, belligerent people, and borderlines, will be part of this parade. 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. Tackling a multitude of interrelated topics, he explores the challenges of bringing in democratic processes into organizational settings, as well as the perils of loneliness and the issues faced by women in organization – and how society can better deal with it. Littered with Manfred Kets de Vries’ trademark wit and psychological insight into the pressing issues of today, these essays can be read independently or as part of a guided tour around the daily perils of executive life.

The Daily Perils of Executive Life

The Daily Perils of Executive Life
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2022-03-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030917606

During a period of enforced solitude during the Covid-19 pandemic, Manfred Kets de Vries became introspective, reflective, and considered how executives could emerge from unprecedented global events. The result is a collection of 23 thought-provoking and focused chapters to help executives take stock and re-evaluate their path during a time of uncertainty. Beginning with essays on ‘Managing Self,’ Kets de Vries starts with people’s search for meaning and how we can deal with this important question. Given our need for meaning, the question of human energy is discussed. What gives executives energy? What makes them feel alive? How best to use this energy? Several essays in this section deal with the effects of the pandemic on people’s perception and management of time. The second section focuses on leadership and highlights several executive types you’ve probably encountered at work and struggle to deal with; complainers, belligerent people, and borderlines, will be part of this parade. 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. Tackling a multitude of interrelated topics, he explores the challenges of bringing in democratic processes into organizational settings, as well as the perils of loneliness and the issues faced by women in organization – and how society can better deal with it. Littered with Manfred Kets de Vries’ trademark wit and psychological insight into the pressing issues of today, these essays can be read independently or as part of a guided tour around the daily perils of executive life.

The Executive Life

The Executive Life
Author: Perrin Stryker
Publisher: Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1956
Genre: Executives
ISBN:

The Darker Side of Leadership

The Darker Side of Leadership
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2024-05-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1040021123

Manfred Kets de Vries is one of the most authoritative voices on organizational dynamics, leadership, executive coaching, and psychotherapy today. In all his roles, he has noticed that questions are now, increasingly, coming back to one thing – the wider state of the world. Using an engaging and highly readable style throughout the book, Manfred helps us to make sense of the confusing and, some might say, psychotic times in which we now live. Revealing the darker side of leadership, Manfred explores the tendency for people to adopt ‘sheeple’ or herd-like behavior, the populist threat that we are facing, the dangers that come with feelings of perceived injustice, the rise of dictatorships, and the impact of Leviathan (neo-authoritarian) leadership behavior. Guided by theoretical concepts, the book provides readers with a better understanding of the underlying forces that drive these phenomena to the surface. What are the psychological dynamics at play? Why do groups of people behave in this manner? Beyond merely diagnosing what’s happening, Manfred introduces various coping strategies to counteract the emergence of these regressive forces. The book offers a unique and original approach to answering the micro- and macro-psychological questions of how to mitigate against populism and autocratic leadership, and will be of interest to the general reader as well as the key audiences of organizational leaders, psychoanalysts, coaches, psychotherapists, sociologists and social psychologists.

A Life Well Lived

A Life Well Lived
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2023-12-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1003802354

Manfred Kets de Vries wears many “hats”—psychoanalyst, executive coach, consultant, management educator, researcher, writer—but he has noticed that whichever hat he is wearing, every question he is asked boils down to one thing: “How can I live a well-lived life?” Over many years of practice in all these disciplines, Professor Kets de Vries has realized the unsurpassed value of stories in tackling human dilemmas and providing answers to this question. The book is, therefore, one of the most important books he has written for coaches, students, leaders, managers, educators—or anyone seeking a more reflective text to guide them through the multitude of questions that we face in work and in life. He draws on a long literary tradition of the unexpected encounter with a wise “other,” fantastic or magical—think The Little Prince, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Once and Future King, the Harry Potter novels—to animate an exploration of the deepest questions and concerns of human beings. He constructs an extended Socratic dialogue between his two “selves”; the first a naïve traveler, lost in the Siberian wilderness, and the second a reflective avatar who comes to his aid. The avatar takes the form of a “kabouter,” a familiar figure in Dutch folklore whose counterpart can be found in different cultures around the world and throughout centuries of storytelling. Through stories, riddles, and puzzles, the kabouter challenges the traveler to question and reflect upon his life and values, guiding him—and readers—toward the insights that will help them achieve a life well lived.

Leadership Unhinged

Leadership Unhinged
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2021-09-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030793451

The recent proliferation of populist movements worldwide — along with the often dangerous, demagogic leaders that accompany them — have prompted questions about the underlying conditions that give rise to such troubling developments. Leadership Unhinged: Essays on the Ugly, the Bad and the Weird examines what is going on at a deeper level, both collectively and individually, between leaders and followers. Employing theories derived from psychoanalytic psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, these essays help to unravel and expose the pathological leader-follower dynamics that generate such movements. The book is infused with Kets de Vries’s now famous and inimitable style of analysis, which draws from myths, creates fairy tales, and uses irony and metaphor to bring his conclusions into greater relief and trigger new insights. As Kets de Vries explains, effective leaders have the capacity to bring people together and even make them better, stronger. Doing so suggests that those leaders are value driven, able to set a moral tone. Yet, when such a tone is absent or, at worst, twisted toward the destructive, leadership quickly becomes dangerous. History has shown the devastation left in the wake of unhinged leaders who have gone unchecked. To become fully conscious of the conditions that allow for the emergence of such leaders has become a moral requirement of our time. In ways both moving and entertaining, Kets de Vries’s new contribution puts us in a better position to fulfil that requirement.

Storytelling for Leaders

Storytelling for Leaders
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2024-09-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1040131514

Stories matter. Written by renowned psychoanalyst, leadership scholar, and executive coach, Manfred Kets de Vries, this book uncovers, explains, and captures the power and art of storytelling at work and in life, and how it can be applied in organizations to powerful effect. Our talent in telling stories makes us more effective. When we talk about events, characters, actions, themes, feelings, and ideas, storytelling is a way to communicate our message. The stories we tell inform, influence, entertain, and shape our lives and those of other people. Using an engaging and storytelling style throughout, the book explores the important role of storytelling, with a particular focus on how it is one of the most important ways to develop leadership skills. Not only does this book present a clear method for improving our storytelling skills, it also explores themes such as the tendency of some people not to live up to their full potential, why people assume an attitude of helplessness, the effects of adversity on human development, why people behave stupidly, the psychological dynamics which affect influencers, the role of sexuality in career management, and what needs to be done to have a fulfilling life. The book is perfect for organizational leaders looking to develop their understanding and skills in the art of storytelling, thereby increasing their effectiveness in positive and powerful ways.

Leading Wisely

Leading Wisely
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2022-01-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119860407

Discover true leadership with this actionable guide from a world renowned leadership expert, psychoanalyst, and executive coach In Leading Wisely: Becoming a Reflective Leader in Turbulent Times, renowned leadership expert, psychoanalyst and executive coach Manfred Kets De Vries delivers an insightful and unique exploration of what it means to lead with wisdom. The book demonstrates that exclusive reliance on knowledge, data, and information yields a superficial leadership style lacking in depth and discernment. What's more important in the wisdom equation is possessing humility, judgment, empathy, compassion, and night vision. With eleven chapters full of anecdotes and tales from a variety of spiritual and cultural traditions that enrich and lend a deeper significance to the choices we make as leaders and members of organizations, Leading Wisely provides readers with: A thorough exploration of dealing with negative—but entirely natural motivations, like envy and greed An emphasis on the Golden Rule—treating others as we like to be treated ourselves An opportunity to be courageous—to consciously and intentionally pick our battles, saving energy for what really matters Lessons on how to listen intently and actively, truly hearing what our colleagues, friends, family, and followers are saying before reacting Finding happiness within ourselves Leading Wisely: Becoming a Reflective Leader in Turbulent Times is a startlingly incisive book, filled with messages that make the book required reading for anyone in a position of leadership or power. It also belongs in the libraries of well-being and health practitioners who frequently deal with businesspeople as clients or patients.

The Path to Authentic Leadership

The Path to Authentic Leadership
Author: Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2022-10-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3031046994

The unprecedented challenges of today—a world-wide pandemic, climate disruption on a global scale, and an economic instability that knows no boundaries—require a leadership grounded in a profound and unflinching awareness of our interconnectedness and the existential stakes before us. The Path to Authentic Leadership frames the dilemmas of leadership within the insights provided by the Ouroboros, the mythic snake willing to destroy parts of itself so that it can be renewed. Like the Ouroboros, today’s leaders must be prepared to enter into a dynamic, uncertain, and ever-changing environment with the capacity to reflect, adapt, let go of what is no longer working, and create solutions that are not only renewing, but sustainable. Drawing from his decades of training in psychoanalysis and the systems-psychodynamic method, Kets de Vries discusses the effects of the pandemic in the context of the seven deadly sins, the impact of shame, evil, the lure of charisma and even the perils of procrastination. Also, he explores the inner theatre of white-collar criminals and the super-rich. He comments on the role of magic in management and the paradoxical role of koans, serving as catalysts for change. From there, he goes on to outline a path toward organizational transformation, turning again to the self-renewing process presented by the Ouroboros. This dynamic is applied to his 7C sequence for organizational transformation—Context, Confrontation, Clarification, Crystallization, Cascading, Consolidation, and Continuity. Its enactment is brought to life through the story of a troubled CEO and the careful, step-by-step advice offered by an experienced executive consultant. Throughout, Kets de Vries reminds us that the path to authentic leadership will be meaningless unless it is guided by a deeply held commitment to serve as a force for good.

Corner Office Rules

Corner Office Rules
Author: Keith R. Wyche
Publisher:
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2013-09
Genre: Executive ability
ISBN: 9780615738222

Corner Office Rules is essential reading for anyone who thinks they've got what it takes to rise to the top of the corporate ladder. Through an engaging series of real life stories told by today's top professionals, readers will learn the tools they need to work their way from middle level management to that always envied executive leadership position. Welcome to the world of senior leadership! As you negotiate the often treacherous territory of corporate responsibility, Corner Office Rules provides the guidance you need to become the kind of leader you expect. First and foremost, you will learn that allowing unrealistic expectations to dictate your agenda will quickly result in never pleasing anyone, solving anything, or delivering any results. To perform effectively as a senior leader, you must accept the reality that you'll never have all the answers! Leadership roles come with all sorts of titles: CEO, CFO, president, executive vice president, senior vice president or partner. Or perhaps you strive to be executive director, principal, pastor, dean, captain, coach, business owner, or chairman. Or why not mayor, governor, or senator? Whatever the title in front of your name, it all means the same thing-you are now in charge. The realities of such responsibility are laid bare in the pages of Corner Office Rules along with the necessary tools to handle the enormous expectations that come both from others...and from yourself. While other self-help business books get bogged down with lofty business "philosophies" that don't amount to much in the real word, Corner Office Rules empowers readers to take control of their own corporate fate. Learn what it's really like to have everyone looking at you for guidance, even as you face problems with no solutions, questions with no answers, and demands with no alternatives. With the failure or success of an entire organization resting on your shoulders, how do you juggle it all? Learn what it takes to become a leader in your field with the guidance of two of today's most prominent business leaders. Author Keith R. Wyche, former president and CEO of ACME Markets, has over thirty years of experience working with some of corporate America's most distinguished companies such as AT&T, IBM, and Pitney Bowes. Corner Office Rules is the long anticipated follow up to his 2008 guide, Good is Not Enough: And Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals. Wyche has been named "CEO of the Year" in 2010 by the Executive 50 Organization and is an independent director on the board of WMS Industries. Co-author Renee B. Booth, PhD, is a nationally recognized leadership development, assessment, and motivation expert with more than twenty years of experience. She currently serves as consultant, coach, and advisor for executive levels of various organizations. In 1999, Dr. Booth founded Leadership Solutions, Inc., an organization that concentrates on issues such as talent assessment, executive coaching, team building, and the design of leadership development curricula. They have helped clients such as The Vanguard Group, Lincoln Financial Group, and Bayer reach their individual management goals. Together, these two visionaries have produced an insightful how-to book that will help lay the foundation for your successful career.