Includes personal anecdotes, case examples, and vignettes with short, concise chapters making this book easy reading for the busy executive.

At this critical junction in the history of humankind, leaders that are proficient in magical thinking aren’t going to solve our problems. Creating alternative realities is not the answer. We need a very different kind of leadership―leaders who can resist the calls of regression and whose outlook is firmly based in reality. We need leaders who analyze and draw conclusions from, or use their own experiences as a development tool, face their strengths and weaknesses, and critique their own experiences in order to build new understandings.

In this very personal and entertaining book, Manfred Kets de Vries, one of the “gurus” in the field of leadership studies offers his thoughts on leadership and life, reflections written for executives and the people who deal with them. As a psychoanalyst and leadership professor let loose in the world of renowned global organizations―as a passionate educator and scholar, or just a human being at the receiving end of heart-rending emails―he examines the pitfalls of leadership and the challenges for the professionals who work with senior executives in today’s AI-focused world.

He points out why leaders can derail, and what steps they can take to prevent this from happening. Ultimately, this book encourages you to “Know yourself,” but makes no bones about the challenge it represents. Understanding our “inner theatre” will always be an uphill struggle. Kets de Vries points out why deep dives into our inner world are always fraught with many anxieties.

Included in the many subjects covered by the author are the loneliness of command, the management of disappointment, the destructive role of greed, the impact of stubbornness, the role of storytelling, the importance of wellness, and the role of corporate culture. In addition, the book addresses the important topic of how to create great teams and best places to work. Furthermore, the book touches on endings– the ending of our career and the growing realization of the inevitable ending of our life. As time grows short, Kets de Vries emphasizes that we have no time to lose in dealing with our anxieties, regrets, and the things we spend much of our life determined not to see.

Taking a deep dive into self-knowledge requires courage and support, and he is here to guide you through it.

F.R. Scott is one of the most remarkable Canadians of his generation. His is a poet - most notably a satirical one - whose anger and impudence have for forty years deflated the pompous, shocked the complacent, and castigated the greedy. He is a lawyer who has vigorously opposed censorship and defended civil rights, and whose knowledge of the law is equalled by his passion for justice; and he is a political and social philosopher who helped form the CCF and New Democratic Parties, and who is now a member of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Readers who have been moved and entertained by his poetry in previous books and in innumerable journals will welcome this bringing together of his best work in one volume. Readers new to his work (if there are any in Canada) will discover a rare combination of wit, intellect, and compassion - 'an informed mind perfectly co-ordinated with a civilized heart.'

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.