Behind the Executive Door Unexpected Lessons for Managing Your Boss and Career

Sigmund Freud meets Peter Drucker ... Behind the Executive Door is a revealing look at the behavior of top business leaders—and how the next level of aspiring managers can learn to navigate the political and personal landscape. Based on over 25 years of psychotherapy and consulting experiences, as well as extensive empirical research, Karol Wasylyshyn has identified a dynamic continuum of executive behaviors that are manifested in three specific types of business leaders – Remarkable, Perilous, and Toxic. She describes these types in accessible terms with the intertwined goals of helping readers (1) recognize these behaviors and leadership types and (2) leverage this information to increase their savvy and effectiveness in the workplace. In the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley and the increased scrutiny of business executives, we have learned that how they lead is often their undoing – or at least it is a pressing development need and/or potential derailment factor. In short, despite financial or strategic smarts, ineffective leadership behavior de-motivates talented employees, has adverse effects on productivity, and jeopardizes positive business results. Conversely, we can recognize the qualities of effective leadership behavior, which is largely a function of emotional intelligence, the ability to tap into the needs and motivations of others and bring out their best performance. In Behind the Executive Door, the author provides a wide variety of tools and exercises to help the reader identify the behavior traits of their organizations’ leaders –and hone their own approaches to achieve positive results. In the process, readers will also gain insights and skills to manage laterally and down, as well as up the organizational ladder. The concepts can be applied in any type of organization – private or public, for-profit or non-profit. The result is not only a better understanding of organizational politics and leadership behavior, but a practical guide to making important career decisions, such as whom to work for and how to develop one’s own leadership style.