Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries 
Reflections on Groups and Organizations [EPUB ebook] 
On the Couch With Manfred Kets de Vries

Introduction ix
About This Book xix
Acknowledgements xxi
PART 1 INTERPERSONAL AND GROUP PROCESSES 1
Introduction 2
Chapter 1 Folie à Deux: Acting Out Your Superior’s
Fantasies 5
Chapter 2 Group Dynamics 27
Chapter 3 High Performance Teams: Lessons From the Pygmies
43
PART 2 THE PEOPLE DIMENSION IN ORGANIZATIONS 65
Introduction 66
Chapter 4 The Question of Organizational Culture 71
Chapter 5 Personality, Culture and Organizations 91
Chapter 6 The Downside of Downsizing 121
Chapter 7 Beyond the Quick Fix: The Psychodynamics of
Organizational Transformation and Change 151
Chapter 8 The Dynamics of Family Controlled Firms 173
PART 3 CHANGING PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS 191
Introduction 192
Chapter 9 Leadership Coaching for Organizational Transformation
197
Chapter 10 Can Leaders Change? Yes, but Only if They Want To
225
Chapter 11 The Many Colors of Success: What Do Executives Want
Out of Life? 259
Chapter 12 Coaching to Stardom: How to Identify and Develop Top
Performers 281
Conclusion: Creating Authentizotic Organizations
303
References 313
Index 327

Manfred Kets de Vries brings a much-needed fresh perspective
to the subjects of leadership and change, drawing on his knowledge
of economics, management, psychology and psychoanalysis.
He is Clinical Professor of Leadership at INSEAD where he holds the
Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt Chair of Leadership Development.
He is also a Visiting Distinguished Professor at the European
School of Management and Technology, (ESMT), Berlin. In addition,
he has held professorships at Mc Gill University, the Ecole des
Haute Etudes Commerciales in Montreal, and Harvard Business School,
and has lectured at management institutions all over the world. He
is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 35 books,
including The Leader on the Couch and Family Business on
the Couch, and over 300 articles and papers.
The Financial Times, Le Capital, Wirstschaftwoche, and
The Economist have judged Manfred Kets de Vries one of the
world’s leading thinkers on leadership. In 2008, he was
honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International
Leadership Association as a ’founding professional of the
development of leadership as a field and as a discipline.’
Previously, in 2005, he was the first non-American recipient of the
ILA Leadership Award for his ’contributions to the classroom and
the boardroom.’ In 2010, the Dutch Psychoanalytic Institute
presented Manfred Kets de Vries with the Freud Memorial Award in
acknowledgment of his exceptional work on the interface between
psychoanalysis and organizations.