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In the continuing effort to define what constitutes successful business leadership and to help business leaders understand the manifold psychological problems which are destructive of mature, productive leadership, I have discovered what might, at first glance, seem an unlikely but nevertheless powerful tool—poetry!

The current rate of executive flame-out will persist until there is a fuller scrutiny of what it really takes to be a successful business leader. This scrutiny must focus on how they lead as well as on the more familiar criteria of strategy, boldness and vision. But scrutinizing the how of business leadership is not easy since it involves the personality of the business leader and how he/she interacts with employees and business associates.

I suggest that poetry is an ideal vehicle for opening a fuller conversation about executive behavior. But when I say “poetry” I am not talking about the conventional genres of poetry whether contemporary or classical. Rather I am referring to original poetry written specifically in the context of the business environment and which describes and amplifies executive behavior to achieve a better understanding of that behavior, both by consultants and business leaders themselves. I am convinced that the use of original poetry in this fashion can obtain the degree of intimacy required for an analysis of behavior without posing a threat to the executive.

The conceptual moment of this new and evolving work occurred when I examined the question: Do the behaviors of the executives with whom I’ve worked fall into distinct categories? My analysis (based on life history, psychometric, and 360 organization-based data) of over 300 cases revealed that there are, in fact, three distinct categories of behavior which I’ve witnessed through nearly 30 years of consulting. I named these categories Remarkable, Perilous, and Toxic.

Executives whom I observed as Remarkable were especially gifted and evolved as leaders. They possessed a strong combination of innate capabilities (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ).

Those executives whom I observed as Perilous were, for the most part, as talented as their Remarkable peers especially in terms of innate capacity. However, their EQ was less evolved. Further, underlying feelings of self doubt and self-limiting or destructive patterns of behavior (e.g. alcoholism, extreme workaholism) undermined their accomplishments.

The executives whom I would describe as Toxic manifested little, if any, desire in new learning. While many were intellectually gifted, they had serious behavioral limitations. These included their lack of self awareness, inability to modulate their emotions, lack of empathic resonance with others, and their grandiose self-absorption.

NOTE: A fuller explanation of these behavioral categories appears in the book, Behind the executive door: Unexpected lessons for managing your boss and career, available now at amazon.com and springer.com

My first collection of poems or executive vignettes is organized by these three categories – Remarkable, Perilous and Toxic. A sampling of the poems is provided below.

I. Remarkable
Empty Next
Duende
On the River

II. Perilous
Night Moves
Emperor’s Jacket
Stranded

III. Toxic
Killing Pigs
Spin Me
Cracked