The recent proliferation of populist movements worldwide -- along with
the often dangerous, demagogic leaders that accompany them -- have
prompted questions about the underlying conditions that give rise to
such troubling developments. Leadership Unhinged: Essays on the Ugly,
the Bad and the Weird examines what is going on at a deeper level, both
collectively and individually, between leaders and followers. Employing
theories derived from psychoanalytic psychology, developmental
psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, these essays help
to unravel and expose the pathological leader-follower dynamics that
generate such movements.
The book is infused with Kets de Vries's now famous and inimitable style
of analysis, which draws from myths, creates fairy tales, and uses irony
and metaphor to bring his conclusions into greater relief and trigger
new insights.
As Kets de Vries explains, effective leaders have the capacity to bring
people together and even make them better, stronger. Doing so suggests
that those leaders are value driven, able to set a moral tone. Yet, when
such a tone is absent or, at worst, twisted toward the destructive,
leadership quickly becomes dangerous. History has shown the devastation
left in the wake of unhinged leaders who have gone unchecked. To become
fully conscious of the conditions that allow for the emergence of such
leaders has become a moral requirement of our time. In ways both moving
and entertaining, Kets de Vries's new contribution puts us in a better
position to fulfil that requirement.
