Executive on the Couch
“Leadership is the global obsession. Thousands of recent booksómany of them best sellers — have dissected the leadership styles of great leaders from Jesus to Jefferson. Business writers, too, have joined the frenzy. The trouble is, much of the business literature on leadership — unlike the broader literature on the subject — starts with the assumption that leaders are rational beings. In part, that’s because readers come to these business books for advice, so they get suggestions on how to imitate the conscious motivations, behaviors, and choices of role models. Advice books are hardly likely to focus heavily on leaders’ irrational side — and still less likely to suggest that the role models’ successes may even stem from their psychological frailties.”