Life and Death in the Executive Fast Lane: Essays on Irrational Organizations and Their Leaders

World-renowned management guru and expert in corporate neurosis Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries puts organizations on the couch. By combining the dismal science of management and the impossible profession of psychoanalysis, Kets de Vries presents eclectic advice on how things really work in organizations.

These brief and insightful essays not only decipher problems that are common in organizational life, but they also shed light on some of the underlying dimensions that often go unnoticed.

Kets de Vries covers everything from leadership and entrepreneurship to downsizing and managing acquisitions, using contemporary examples like Robert Maxwell, Jack Welch, Tom Peters, Robert Coles, and John Gardner.

MANFRED F. R. KETS DE VRIES holds the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chair of Human Resource Management at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in Fountainebleau, France. He has previously held a professorship at Harvard Business School and is the author of several books including Leaders, Fools, and Imposters (Jossey-Bass, 1993).