Leading with Depth: The Impact of Emotions and Relationships on Leadership

Leadership goes well beyond efficient management, and the significance of emotions on the success of organisations is often underestimated. In Leading With Depth: The Impact of Emotions and Relationships, Claudia Nagel guides us through the emotional and relational fallacies of organisational leadership from both the personal and the systemic perspective.

Nagel expertly weaves theory, including attachment, neuroscientific, psychodynamic, psychosocial, and psychoanalytic, with practical advice. She looks at the leader as an individual and leadership as a context within systems such as groups, organisations, and societies. The book is divided into two parts and contains thirty-eight figures to illustrate important aspects of leadership. The first chapter in each part is purely theoretical followed by more method-oriented and practical chapters, which are complemented by pertinent case studies from well-known experts in the field (coaches, consultants, or academics). Contributors include Gilles Amado, Birgitte Bonnerup, Phil Boxterk, Halina Brunning, Annemette Hasselager, Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Olya Khaleelee, Fiona Martin, Ajit Menon, Rose Mersky, Mal O’Connor, Larissa Philatova, Martin Ringer, Rob Ryan, and Kalina Stamenova. Each chapter concludes with a brief overview of the key learnings for the reader to take away. In this way, Nagel encourages practical learning and application and engagement with the text.

Nagel’s clear language spares the reader of academic jargon and is highly readable. The book successfully bridges the gap from theoretical concepts to real-life application and will be of value to incoming and experienced leaders alike, as well as organisational consultants and executive coaches looking to inform their practice.