
Leaders Who Lust
Power, Money, Sex, Success, Legitimacy, Legacy
Cambridge University Press
Published on 29. October 2020
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-1-108-49116-7 (ISBN)
Description
Among our greatest leaders are those driven by impulses they cannot completely control - by lust. Lust is not, however, an abstraction, it has definition. Definition that, given the impact of leaders who lust, is essential to extract. This book identifies six types of lust with which leaders are linked: 1. Power: the ceaseless craving to control. 2. Money: the limitless desire to accrue great wealth. 3. Sex: the constant hunt for sexual gratification. 4. Success: the unstoppable need to achieve. 5. Legitimacy: the tireless claim to identity and equity. 6. Legacy: the endless quest to leave a permanent imprint. Each of the core chapters focuses on different lusts and features a cast of characters who bring lust to life. In the real world leaders who lust can and often do have an enduring impact. This book therefore is counterintuitive - it focuses not on moderation, but on immoderation.
Reviews / Votes
'In this path-breaking book, one of the most perceptive and prolific scholars in leadership, Barbara Kellerman, teams up with one of the most talented and promising social scientists, Todd Pittinsky, to pierce an important veil. Instead of telling us what leaders should be like, we learn how they truly are. This is an eye-opening must read.' David Gergen, White House Adviser to four US Presidents and founding Director of the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School 'This book paints an unforgettable picture of leaders with outsized appetites for power, money, sex, success, legitimacy, or legacy. Instead of treating leaders as one-dimensional paragons of either virtue or vice, the authors show them as human beings with strengths and weaknesses. The result is fascinating, beautifully written, and highly entertaining.' Dennis Tourish, Professor of Leadership and Organization Studies, University of Sussex, UK, and editor of Leadership 'Leaders Who Lust is a great read. It offers a compelling contribution to our critical conversations about those who shape the course of human affairs. The authors achieve something entirely new and different.' Margaret Shih, Professor of Management and Organizations, UCLA Anderson School of Management 'Is a never-ending desire for gratification a neglected leadership trait? Is lust a critical factor in explaining exceptional leadership? Making this provocative argument through a series of gripping biographical sketches, this book offers a host of refreshingly iconoclastic and original insights for scholars and practitioners alike.' Christopher Pietroni, Professor of Leadership Practice, University of BirminghamMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
499 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-49116-7 (9781108491167)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Barbara Kellerman is James MacGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and Founding Executive Director of the school's Center for Public Leadership. She is the winner of the International Leadership Association Lifetime Achievement Award and has authored or edited many books and articles on leadership and followership.
Author
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Stony Brook University, State University of New York
Content
Prologue: Lust as Stimulus; 1. Lust for power; 2. Lust for money; 3. Lust for sex; 4. Lust for success; 5. Lust for legitimacy; 6. Lust for legacy; Epilogue: Lust and leadership.