REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

THE HYPOMANIC PERSONALITY 61

toward giving their organization a competitive advantage as far as talent
is concerned.
Samuel Beckett, in Waiting for Godot , wrote, ‘ We are all born mad.
Some remain so. ’ It is to be hoped that we all retain a touch of madness.
Without it, life in organizations would be pretty dull. Moreover, such
dullness would lead to complacency, making us less creative and unpre-
pared to deal with life ’ s discontinuities.

Endnotes

This chapter collates material from two published sources:

• Kets de Vries , M.F.R. ( 1977 ). The Dionysian Quality of Charismatic Lead-
  ership. INSEAD working paper.


• Kets de Vries , M.F.R. ( 1999 ). ‘ Managing puzzling personalities: Navigating
  between “ live volcanoes ” and “ dead fi sh ” , ’ European Management Journal , 17
  ( 1 ): 8 – 19.

All names are fi ctitious.