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Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness
Penguin
August 2011
On Sale: August 4, 2011
352 pages
ISBN: 1594202958
EAN: 9781594202957
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
An investigation into the surprisingly deep correlation
between mental illness and successful leadership, as seen
through some of history's greatest politicians, generals,
and businesspeople. In A First-Rate Madness,
Nassir Ghaemi, who runs the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts
Medical Center, draws from the careers and personal plights
of such notable leaders as Lincoln, Churchill, Gandhi,
Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, and others from the past two
centuries to build an argument at once controversial and
compelling: the very qualities that mark those with mood
disorders- realism, empathy, resilience, and creativity-also
make for the best leaders in times of crisis. By combining
astute analysis of the historical evidence with the latest
psychiatric research, Ghaemi demonstrates how these
qualities have produced brilliant leadership under the
toughest circumstances. Take realism, for instance:
study after study has shown that those suffering depression
are better than "normal" people at assessing current threats
and predicting future outcomes. Looking at Lincoln and
Churchill among others, Ghaemi shows how depressive realism
helped these men tackle challenges both personal and
national. Or consider creativity, a quality psychiatrists
have studied extensively in relation to bipolar disorder.
A First-Rate Madness shows how mania inspired General
Sherman and Ted Turner to design and execute their most
creative-and successful-strategies. Ghaemi's thesis
is both robust and expansive; he even explains why eminently
sane men like Neville Chamberlain and George W. Bush made
such poor leaders. Though sane people are better shepherds
in good times, sanity can be a severe liability in moments
of crisis. A lifetime without the cyclical torment of mood
disorders, Ghaemi explains, can leave one ill equipped to
endure dire straits. He also clarifies which kinds of
insanity-like psychosis-make for despotism and ineptitude,
sometimes on a grand scale. Ghaemi's bold,
authoritative analysis offers powerful new tools for
determining who should lead us. But perhaps most profoundly,
he encourages us to rethink our view of mental illness as a
purely negative phenomenon. As A First-Rate Madness
makes clear, the most common types of insanity can confer
vital benefits on individuals and society at large-however
high the price for those who endure these illnesses.
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