Leaders Who Lust
Power, Money, Sex, Success, Legitimacy, Legacy

Explores the all-important link between leadership and lust, look at leaders with ravenous hungers and limitless passions.

Barbara Kellerman (Author), Todd L. Pittinsky (Author)

9781108491167, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 October 2020

264 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

'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 Birmingham

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Corporate governance [KJR], Politics & government [JP], The self, ego, identity, personality [JMS], Sociology: sexual relations [JHBK5], History of the Americas [HBJK]