Reflective Leader Within

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change at INSEAD, and the founder of its Executive Master’s Program in Change Management. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. A pioneer in integrating psychoanalytic and systemic perspectives into the study of leadership, he also introduced the technique of group coaching to INSEAD—an approach that has since influenced business schools and consulting firms worldwide.Renowned for bridging the worlds of psychotherapy, organizational behavior, leadership, executive coaching, and consulting, Kets de Vries offers a deeply human understanding of what drives people in positions of power. Publications such as The Financial Times, The Economist, Le Capital, and Wirtschaftswoche have recognized him as one of the world’s foremost management thinkers.Kets de Vries' numerous honors include the International Leadership Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the ILA’s Chair Award—the organization’s highest distinction, the American Psychological Association’s Harry and Miriam Levinson Award, the Freud Memorial Award, the Vision of Excellence Award from the Harvard Institute of Coaching, and INSEAD’s Dominique Heau Award for teaching excellence. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from four universities, recognizing his lifelong contributions to understanding leadership and the inner world of organizations.

• 1. Introduction 2. Helping professional or shaman? Is there a difference? Part 1 3. The Rashomon effect 4. Living in cloud cuckoo land: the power of rationalizing 5. Sturm und Drang within family firms 6. The introvert’s guide to thriving in an extraverted world 7. The entitlement trap 8. Leadership and the 7C model: the case of Genghis Khan 9. Creating organizational alignment Part 2 10. Where have all the “third places” gone? 11. Haunted by deadly ghosts 12. Feeling lost to find yourself 13. The tipping point effect 14. Walking alone 15. A fanfare to fun 16. When there is life, there’s hope 17. In praise of gratitude 18. Concluding comments