Life And Death In The Executive Fast Lane: Essays On Irrational Organizations And Their Leaders

World-renowned management guru and expert in corporate neurosis Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries puts organizations on the couch. By combining the dismal science of management and the impossible profession of psychoanalysis, Kets de Vries presents eclectic advice on how things really work in organizations.

These brief and insightful essays not only decipher problems that are common in organizational life, but they also shed light on some of the underlying dimensions that often go unnoticed.

Kets de Vries covers everything from leadership and entrepreneurship to downsizing and managing acquisitions, using contemporary examples like Robert Maxwell, Jack Welch, Tom Peters, Robert Coles, and John Gardner.

MANFRED F. R. KETS DE VRIES holds the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chair of Human Resource Management at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in Fountainebleau, France. He has previously held a professorship at Harvard Business School and is the author of several books including Leaders, Fools, and Imposters (Jossey-Bass, 1993).

Part One: Leaders and the Organization
1. If I'm the Leader, Will Anyone Follow? A Definition of Leadership
2. Welcome to the Snake Pit: The New CEO
3. Boiled Frogs and Dancing Elephants: Change and Downsizing
4. Merger Fever: Managing Acquisition
5. Do You Like Singing the Company Song? Corporate Culture
6. A Cultural Tower of Babel: Managing Across Borders
7. Are You Sure You Want to Work Abroad? International Assignments
8. Do You Have the Right Stuff? The Making of a Global Leader
9. When the Future Is Now: Leadership for the Next Millennium
Part Two: Leaders and Individuals
10. Is Anatomy Really Destiny? Women as Leaders
11. Joining the Family Burlesque: Family Firms
12. Reaping the Whirlwind: Creativity at Work
13. CEOs Also Have the Blues: Succession and Retirement
14. Do Workaholics Have More Fun? Balancing Work and Pleasure
15. Dead Fish, Incorporated: Alexithymia in Organizations
16. Doing a Maxwell: The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship
17. Why Work for a Genghis Khan? Identifying with the Aggressor
18. Leaders Who Go Off the Deep End: Narcissism and Hubris
19. Conclusion: In Praise of a Little Madness