CEO Whisperer: Meditations on Leadership, Life, and Change

Manfred Kets de Vries, a leadership professor, psychoanalyst, and consultant, examines the pitfalls of leadership and the challenges for professionals working with senior executives in the AI-focused world. He encourages leaders to know themselves, but acknowledges the difficulty of this task. The book covers topics such as loneliness of command, disappointment management, greed, stubbornness, storytelling, wellness, and corporate culture. It also addresses how to create great teams and best places to work, and touches on endings, such as the end of our career and the realization of the inevitable ending of our life.

Format: Hardback
Length: 230 pages
Publication date: 16 December 2020
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

At this pivotal moment in human history, leaders who rely on magical thinking will not find solutions to our challenges. Creating alternative realities is not the answer. We require a different breed of leadership—leaders who can withstand the allure of regression and whose perspective is grounded in reality. We need leaders who analyze and draw insights from their experiences, or use their own experiences as a tool for development, confront their strengths and weaknesses, and critically evaluate their experiences to gain new understandings. In this deeply personal and engaging book, Manfred Kets de Vries, one of the esteemed experts in the field of leadership studies, shares his thoughts on leadership and life, reflections crafted specifically for executives and those who interact with them. As a psychoanalyst and leadership professor who has ventured into the world of renowned global organizations—as a passionate educator and scholar, or simply as a human being receiving heart-wrenching emails—he delves into the pitfalls of leadership and the challenges faced by professionals working with senior executives in the AI-driven world of today. He highlights why leaders can derail and provides actionable steps to prevent such occurrences. Ultimately, this book encourages you to "Know yourself," but it acknowledges the inherent difficulty of this endeavor. Understanding our "inner theatre" will always be a challenging journey. Kets de Vries sheds light on why deep dives into our inner world are often accompanied by numerous anxieties. The author covers a wide range of subjects, including loneliness of command, managing disappointment, the destructive influence of greed, the impact of stubbornness, the role of storytelling, the importance of wellness, and the role of corporate culture. Additionally, the book addresses the impact of technology on leadership and the need for leaders to adapt to the changing landscape.

Weight: 546g
Dimension: 161 x 241 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030626006
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021