Leaders, Fools and Impostors: Essays on the Psychology of Leadership

I recommend this book to anyone striving to understand leaders, leadership and the organizational dynamics that surround leaders. The book is a little over 100 pages and an easy read. The author has experience dealing with CEOs and executives and this shows in how well grounded the book is in terms of the types of workplace experiences one may encounter. The book offers a typology of psychologically informed perspectives that peal back human nature for inspection and the leaders and leadership styles that arise many times from the darker side of human nature. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Narcissism and the Exercise of Power and the concluding chapter that offers many insights into how an effective leader who merges self-knowledge and self-reflective skills can avoid the many pitfalls that come with holding powerful positions in organizations. The workplace is everywhere and always an exceptionally hard context to understand and live and work within. The insights in this book may make you feel less alone and isolated when it comes to understanding your experience at work.

If you are involved in hiring/dealing with top managers even for startups (well, especially for startups!), or deal often with entrepreneurs, as well as if you "assemble" teams which provide for long-term result, this book is simply a must. Completely eye-opening. Explaining mistakes I made before, for which I could not find explanations until I read it."

I was charged with doing a presentation on "the good, bad and ugly" about leadership. This book provided invaluable, relevant information. De Vries helps the readers understand the psychological aspects of leadership and gives many detailed examples of these aspects at work in known leaders. I also learned the leader/follower dynamic, the internal struggles of leaders, and strategies to promote healthy leaders and followers on individual and organizational levels.

This is one of the best books I have read on leadership. It's insightful, deep, surprising, and very readable. We finally understand why leaders act the way they do, why they succumb to the "greed is good" mantra, why they derail. If you have ever wondered what is behind those stories of leaders gone overboard we are hearing so much about lately, read this book. It was a real eye-opener for me, and I enjoyed every page of it. It has the advantage of being an easy read, while it really provides a lot of understanding about how leaders behave when the curtain is closed. I very much recommend this book to everyone interested in the realities of leadership.

Manfred Kets de Vries is one of today's foremost specialists on leadership. In this book, which contains some fascinating case studies, Kets de Vries offers unique insight into the functioning of business leaders and how they wield their power. He approaches leadership from an unusual angle, very different from what we are used to from glossy business magzines that glorify leaders. Leaders, Fools, Impostors is the perfect book to read for those who want to understand the real reasons for the rise and recent fall of corporate America's most powerful bosses. An excellent book!