THE ALEXITHYMIC EXECUTIVE 63subtleties of mood change. The term ‘ alexithymia ’ was fi rst coined in
the early 1970s by Peter Sifneos, a Boston psychiatrist working with
psychosomatic patients. The term is made up from the Greek, meaning
‘ no word for emotions. ’ In spite of its recent labeling, alexithymia is
rooted in a large body of consistent clinical and phenomenological
observations that telescope a number of well - recognized features into an
easily communicated term. In a nutshell, alexithymia refers to a cluster
of characteristics that includes an inability to describe feelings verbally,
an impoverished fantasy life, and over - pragmatic, unimaginative thought
content.
Executives in the grip of alexithymia have the power to bring down
organizations. Because they do not exude the dynamism, inspiration,
and vision that a high - performing organization needs, they cannot
motivate others to make exceptional efforts or stimulate in them a
passion for learning and further development. Because they do not
handle discontinuous change well, they impede organizational progress.
Their emotional absence puts its stamp on corporate culture, discourag-
ing creativity and strategic innovation, and contributing to a decrease
in organizational performance.
Identifying alexithymia
So, what sort of person could be described as an alexithymic? Have you
ever met a person like the one described by this executive?
For years I worked with a robot. It would have driven me crazy to have
him as a boss; he was bad enough as a colleague. Sometimes you didn ’ t
know whether to laugh or cry. I could give you so many examples. He
had a son, a year or so older than mine. The kid got into a great school.
I said, ‘ You must be so proud of him. ’ He said, ‘ You gotta have qualifi ca-
tions. ’ Another time, I knew he ’ d been to a function where a famous
violinist — an idol of mine — was present. I asked him if he ’ d met him, and
he had. I said, ‘ What was he like? ’ — you know, real excited, and he said,
‘ Small. ’ Like I say, you didn ’ t know whether to laugh or cry.Peter Sifneos used the term alexithymia to describe a condition in which
individuals were unable to fi nd words to describe emotions, habitually
used actions to express emotion and avoid confl ict, were preoccupied
with external events rather than fantasies or feelings, and had a tendency
to give tediously detailed descriptions of the circumstances surrounding
events rather than attempt to describe their emotional reaction to the
events themselves. Pursuing their research, he and a colleague identifi ed