University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The Leadership Mystique
Book

The Leadership Mystique

A User's Manual for the Human Enterprise

Manfred Kets de Vries
FT Prentice Hall, 2001
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Editorial Rating

8

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  • Applicable

Recommendation

Business schools and shareholders focus so relentlessly on hard numbers and cold facts that it’s no surprise that data reigns supreme in the corporate world. But executives who downplay the importance of emotion and intuition do so at their own peril, management expert Manfred Kets de Vries convincingly argues. He offers a wealth of useful tips for leaders who are ready to reintroduce the human side, the soft side, to their organizations and their own lives. The author occasionally drops in stories and quotes from his clients, but his argument would have been bolstered by even more examples. getAbstract.com recommends this easy-to-digest volume to leaders who want to improve their interpersonal skills.

Summary

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

Business leaders are trained to focus on hard data and cold logic. Left-brain types tend to think of emotion, intuition and other human factors as "soft" matters that can’t be measured and, therefore, don’t exist. A practical reason underlies this approach: personal, emotional issues are difficult to see, let alone manage and control. Yet these soft issues can prove quite hard indeed. Ignoring soft matters can kill deals and destroy careers, so understanding subjective issues is crucial to your success.

The concept of "emotional intelligence" arose once it became clear that a high IQ alone doesn’t guarantee leadership success. Leaders who understand their own motivations and who know what motivates their employees are more likely to succeed. The intelligence quotient measures logical and mathematical skills, abilities that do not guarantee management aptitude. Smart people don’t necessarily make good decisions and they often fall into the "intelligence trap" of justifying poor decisions. Also, high-IQ managers tend to be so skilled at criticizing others that they do that instead of focusing on more constructive activities.

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About the Author

Management expert Manfred Kets de Vries advises corporations on organizational transformation and strategic human resource management. He is program director of INSEAD’s top management program and holds professorships at McGill University in Montreal and Harvard Business School. He has written a number of books, including The New Global Leaders, Power and the Corporate Mind and The Happiness Equation.

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