Leadership, Psychoanalysis, and Society

'The recent pandemic and resultant lockdown has led to a tsunami of publications in the Leadership Consultancy and Coaching field. Most of the contributions are from professionals with newfound time on their hands. This book is different! It is not one to pick up and read from cover to cover. Instead it is a Cornucopia of ideas and skills that encourages the reader to reflect on their personal style and practice and for that to be done in the widest peripheral context as presented by the contributors to this excellent volume.'

Anton Obholzer, former Chief Executive, Tavistock Clinic, London

'We can imagine the leader-follower relationship as a two-way street. The conscious and unconscious fears and wishes of followers and the nature of the leader's personality organization may cause traffic jams and shared problems. In this book authors from different academic backgrounds such as psychoanalysis, history and anthropology examine these issues and the differences between a male and a female leader. Thinking of worldwide societal and political divisions I consider this book very important and timely.'

Vamık D. Volkan, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Virginia and the author of Blind Trust: Large Groups and Their Leaders in Times of Crises and Terror

'This is an exciting exploration of different styles and motivations of leadership, some more effective than others, and the psychodynamics of Presidential leaders, including Donald Trump and Joseph Biden. This volume is essential for every modern historian and biographer.'

Peter Loewenberg, Professor of History, Emeritus, UCLA; New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles

'What makes for a great leader—or a dangerous one? What's common among Gandhi, Churchill, Hitler and Donald Trump? This book provides the psychoanalytic insights that helps explain these critical differences. How has leadership changed from prehistoric times to the present? This book provides deep insights into the clinical underpinnings of leadership and helps explain why the leaders we need for today are different from those in the past.'

Charles O’Reilly, Frank E. Buck Professor of Management at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, California

'There is widespread acknowledgment that new forms of leadership and change are essential for business and society today. Combining their knowledge from practice and research with historical insight, the practitioners and scholars in Leadership, Psychoanalysis, and Society highlight lessons from diverse forms of leadership for new and varied contexts. This is required reading in the era of stakeholder capitalism.'

Sherri Douville, CEO, Medigram and Editor of Mobile Medicine: Overcoming People, Culture, & Governance

'I was delighted to read Leadership, Psychoanalysis, and Society, edited by Maccoby and Cortina. They gather essays by a group of fluent, careful and experienced professionals who have worked hard—through diverse perspectives and field practices—to understand the process of leadership and its relationship to followers. By doing this, they point to alternative ways the future of the United States can become a more just and mutually supporting society.'

Sonia Gojman de Millán, Former Secretary General of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies IFPS

'Michael Maccoby and Mauricio Cortina have concocted an array of star scholars to examine leadership from a variety of directions at precisely the time we need such a book. It’s an excellent addition to the leadership literature.'

Keith Grint, Professor Emeritus, Warwick University, Coventry