The Elephant In the Boardroom

This book is about potentially great business leaders: often people thought to have, and indeed having, great skill, charm and determination. It is about people often initially feted to be high flyers; talented or those with potential who get noticed and promoted. Nearly all derailed leaders have an impressive CV: a history of achievement and success. But something went wrong. To rise to the top of any organization takes ability and effort: it often takes great determination and great skill. Leaders of organizations need to be courageous and bold; self-confident and socially skilled, and many other things beside. By contrast bad managers make poor decisions, can't motivate their people and fail to learn from past mistakes. They fail on the basics: finding, forming and motivating a team to fulfil worthwhile and appropriate goals which they articulate as clear targets and challenges. The author explains how and why potentially good leaders get appointed but then fail and derail, and how to spot the signs.

ISBN 0230229530   Pages 296 ISBN13 9780230229532 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 597 Publisher Palgrave Macmillan   Published in Basingstoke Imprint Palgrave Macmillan   Height (mm) 238 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 160 Publication date 27 Jan 2010   Spine width (mm) 24 DEWEY 658.4092   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

		List of Figures and Tables
1		Researching Derailed, Incompetent and Failed Leaders		3
2		Early Research and Speculations		34
3		Personality Styles, Traits and Disorders		77
4		The Successful Psychopath		97
5		Narcissism at Work		111
6		The Machiavellian Leader		140
7		Sector-Specific Disorders		155
8		Six More Odd Balls		177
9		The Cognitively Challenged Leader		199
10		Preventing and Managing Derailment		234
		References		262
		Index		273

'Although leadership is the most important topic in the organizational sciences, there is no consensus in the professional literature regarding the characteristics of effective leaders. There is, however, surprising consensus regarding the characteristics of incompetent leaders, whose actions ruin companies and even countries. In this useful and engaging book, Professor Adrian Furnham summarizes what we know about this vitally important problem.' - Robert Hogan, PhD, President, Hogan Assessment Systems

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