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We know where we are with a fairy story. There is a cast of predictable characters, the hero or heroine is submitted to terrible trials, cruelty, and injustice but in the end the baddies get their comeuppance, good triumphs, and everyone lives happily ever after. In this book Manfred Kets de Vries, one of the world´s leading authorities on the psychology of leadership, and a pioneering practitioner in the field of psychodynamic executive coaching, draws on the format of traditional fairy tales and tells us five stories that dramatize five key themes of dysfunctional leadership.

The accompanying commentaries analyze each tale and examine the ways in which it applies to leadership behavior and organizational practices. This diagnostic element is supported by self-assessment tests that reinforce the main lessons of each tale and guide the reader´s interpretation of the results.

With Kets de Vries´s guidance you´ll be able to help your clients create best places to work, where everyone is the best they can be, and lives ´happily ever after´.

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´This book is the distillation of the life experiences of an internationally renowned guru of management and leadership studies. Combining insight with his signature wit, Kets de Vries cuts to the bone as he reflects on and gently guides executives, and others, through some of the core issues that bedevil our lives. A book that will linger in memory, creating ever-widening ripples, long after the ephemeral offerings of the usual management literature have disappeared.´

- Dr. Sudhir Kakar, Psychoanalyst, Anthropologist, Novelist and one of the major thinkers of the world

´The art of understanding oneself is crucial to understanding others. Professor Manfred Kets de Vries´ insight into our motivations and levels of emotional intelligence exposes the hidden fact that lies at the heart of business behaviour; namely that we are all human.´ - The Viscount Rothermere, Chairman DMGT

´This book made me laugh, it made me feel uncomfortable sometimes, but I learned a lot. It makes the reader think about how much s/he can do - good and bad - to her/himself and to others in family, business and social life. With his free and easy style Kets de Vries lines up the latest findings of human science and gives examples of the highs and lows of real human life reminding us that we are in the driving seat. Seize the opportunity.´ - Janos Csak, Economist, Sociologist, Chairman, Constellation Energy Institute

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Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change at INSEAD, the Founder of INSEAD´s Global Leadership Centre, and program director of INSEAD´s top management program, ´The Challenge of Leadership: Developing Your Emotional Intelligence,´ and Scientific Director of the Executive Master´s Program ´Consulting and Coaching for Change´. The Financial Times, Le Capital, Wirtschaftswoche, and The Economist have rated Manfred Kets de Vries among the world´s top 50 leading management thinkers.

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