By: Wallace Kamau on October 26, 2019
Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries[1], a distinguished Professor of Leadership and Development and organizational change, an economist, management expert and a psychoanalyst, takes us through the pathology of the everyday life of a leader and illustrates it so well using the analogy of the rabbit hole. It’s the journey that takes an unexpected fall…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on October 25, 2019
This post is late as I was leading a retreat that was the completion of an eighteen-month mentoring process with 45 high capacity leaders and I am reflecting as I write. Through experiencing these four days together, I was especially struck by my comrades’ vulnerable stories of adversity they had been encountering. As I listened…
By: Rhonda Davis on October 25, 2019
Growing up, I was always pretty unsettled by the story of Alice in Wonderland. My friends enjoyed reading the story and watching the movies about Alice’s unexpected trip into a strange land. They would talk about how fun it would be to fall down a rabbit hole. I thought it sounded terrible, and the story…
By: Sean Dean on October 25, 2019
I sat at the table across from the guidance counselor debating how to ask the question that was bouncing around my head. My friend Jessica was going through a rough time and I felt really sad. Not sad for her, but sad like she was sad – as if it were happening to me. This…
By: Digby Wilkinson on October 25, 2019
Why did I love Alice in Wonderland as a child and then as an adult? Well, if you want to know, then you must want to understand what it means to disappear down a rabbit hole. If you are so interested, then search Google for the metaphorical messages found in the book, Alice’s Adventures in…
By: Karen Rouggly on October 24, 2019
I’m not an official pastor. I’ve never been ordained or licensed, nor had “Pastor” in any aspect of any title I’ve held. I have worked for a church, and I was the children’s director, a long time ago. There are lots of places that I function in a pastoral role, however. I do it in…
By: Harry Edwards on October 24, 2019
Reading Manfred F.R. Kets De Vries’ Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership was like embarking on a backpacking trip. One had to slog through the initial rough terrain, enduring steep switchbacks before reaching breathtaking mountain-top vistas. Except I thought this book’s trailhead started in the dumps. I was almost tempted to use my newly acquired…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on October 24, 2019
Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Development and Organizational Change at INSEAD (Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires based in Fontainebleau, France). He also was the first fly fisherman in Outer Magnolia (I am not sure how this was verified, but this declaration is critical to de Vries’ notable…
By: Jenn Burnett on October 24, 2019
Monday was a significant day for Canadians. Our federal elections revealed a considerable shift in party support across the nation over the last four years and deep differences determined by region. We elected a liberal minority government, maintaining a liberal prime minister, but have two provinces without a single liberal representative. The Bloc Québécois, a…
By: Andrea Lathrop on October 24, 2019
Kets de Vries has put together a variety of cautionary essays in Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership. It was helpful to remember his admission that he has been greatly affected by dystopian literature.[1] He writes about the dark side of leadership and yet still maintains a sense of hope. Perhaps his goal is that…
By: Shermika Harvey on October 24, 2019
In reading Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership: Leadership Pathology in Everyday Life by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, one can not help but contemplate the realities and effects of Christian leadership and influence in our great nation. It seems as, in our efforts to become enlightened, to find truth, to understand what’s happening…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on October 23, 2019
Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries happens to be one of the worlds “leading thinkers on leadership, coaching, and the application of clinical psychology to individual and organizational change”[1] and his recent collection Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership is both highly readable and easily applicable. In fact, most of the chapters were “originally written as…
By: Karen Rouggly on October 21, 2019
I strive to be a leader that creates space for all those around me to feel as though they can be whole persons, and bring all they are to the table each day. A lot of this I took from my mentor, Brené (and yes, she and I are on a first name basis. She…
By: Shermika Harvey on October 20, 2019
When one thinks of transition in a organization’s leadership, it is common to consider the elements surrounding the development and the people in which the transition will affect such as the remaining executive leaders and staff of that said organization. The remaining executive leadership carefully considers the necessary course of action for seeking a new…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on October 19, 2019
As an ordained rabbi, family therapist, and leadership consultant, Edwin H. Friedman tapped into the emotional processes within society describing the failure of nerve in leaders as a result. According to Friedman, leadership is often neutralized by four emotional responses: reactivity, herding, blame displacement and a quick-fix mentality. The characteristics that define herding in highly…
By: Wallace Kamau on October 19, 2019
“The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, secure and at ease. If you always do what is easy and choose the path of least resistance, you never step outside your comfort zone. Great things don’t come from comfort zones.”[1] We’re operating in a world of safety and comfort, where…
By: Mary Mims on October 18, 2019
The word sabotage always brings to mind espionage or even, intrigue. It is the act of someone ruining an event or project for the sole purpose of stopping advancement or progress. Many times when things go wrong at work or in ministry, the thought of sabotage comes to my mind. Ministry is supposed to be…
By: Sean Dean on October 18, 2019
Water is an amazing thing. It can dissolve more substances than any solvent – including very caustic acids. It cannot be compressed making it usable as a both a weapon and a tool, it is able to sooth burns, can absorb an outrageous amount of energy before changing states and is the most important ingredient…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on October 18, 2019
Perspective – do you see yourself as a victim or a survivor? This is the key to healing – and also the key to leadership. I often paint for my clients a picture of them in the winner’s circle. Zig Ziglar once said that if you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform…
By: Harry Edwards on October 17, 2019
O wow! Reading Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve was like drinking from a fire hydrant — there’s just so much to assimilate. I found myself highlighting many parts, frequently re-reading sections, trying to comprehend his ideas about leadership. Then there were the familiar concepts we’re told not to emulate, such as empathy and togetherness1.…
