A psychiatrist puts leadership "on the couch" to explore the crucial, often ignored psychological and personal character foundations of leadership. Elias Aboujaoude explores how simplistic and hollow our concept of leadership has become, how divorced from the actual qualities and circumstances that make a truly great leader. The result: Everywhere we look, from corporate boardrooms to elected officials, we see failures of leadership.
Dr. Aboujaoude begins with a takedown of the foibles of so-called leadership experts he dubs the "leadership industrial complex." an unholy alliance of gurus, coaches, business professors, TED-talkers seemingly united in a modern form of alchemy to create leadership gold.
Rather, he vividly illustrates, leaders emerge from a combination of personal, psychological, and situational factors that vary from person to person. Personality, he shows, is sticky, not malleable, viciously resisting attempts at manipulating it into something it is not. To a large degree, great leaders
are born, or happen, with the help of innate temperament, talent, opportunity, timing, and circumstance, in ways that we do not fully understand.
How Leaders Happen is a refreshing take on a classic subject " Frank and unflinching, it empowers readers to break free from the simplistic and hollow cult of leadership. Step up to lead if you are willing and capable, Dr. Aboujaoude urges, but if you decide otherwise, there are equally, often superior ways to make your contribution in the world."
