People who work in the helping professions are familiar with the vicissitudes of incremental change. However, coaches occasionally encounter greater dramas than the small victories of day-to-day coaching exchanges. Most coaches have witnessed special "Aha!" moments, tipping points in clients’...

In this article I explore the problem of excessive helping behavior — The Rescuer Syndrome — with particular reference to executive coaching. I also discuss co-dependency between coach and client and question whether these ‘rescuers,’ in their need to help, really help their clients. Do...

In this introduction to a book on leadership development, we argue that leaders in the 21st century need to recognize that building their organization’s leadership capabilities is going to be a major differentiator for future success. We emphasize that organizations that do not have properly...

I have always liked kōans — those baffling, challenging, frequently infuriating, thought-provoking, learning tools that in the Zen tradition are the way to enlightenment — perhaps because, in my role as a psychoanalyst, I see parallels between the master-student relationship of Zen Buddhist...

We are all products of attachment behavior. Each attachment with our primary caregiver forms the blueprint that determines the way we see ourselves and how we regulate our behavior toward others. Furthermore, the same behavioral system that underlies the dynamics of the infant-caregiver...

This article explores the subject of forgiveness and its importance in the context of leadership. Forgiveness is one of the factors that differentiates exceptional from mediocre or ineffective leadership. When leaders forgive, they dissipate built-up anger, bitterness and the animosity that can...

The continent of Africa presents a unique context of study for leadership scholars. A vast expanse of land encompassing over 50 countries, territories, and states with over 1.1 billion people, Africa’s diversity of ethnicities, cultures, and languages are both sources of richness and potential...

This article takes a 'Swiftian perspective' to the question of dictatorship. Using satire to expose people’s idiocy in supporting dictatorships, it celebrates the benefits of this form of governance. At the same time, it highlights some of the downsides of democracy. It makes the...

In this article I discuss various similarities and differences between the healing practices of shamans and the work of therapists and executive coaches. I also explore the extent to which the shamanic perspective can contribute to contemporary psychotherapy and executive coaching. I conjecture...

At its heart, leadership is about human behaviour — what we do, how we do it and why we do it. Leadership is about the way people behave in organizations and effective leaders are those who meet the needs of their followers; pay careful attention to group processes; able to calm anxieties and...