By Manfred Kets de Vries In many organisations, the top executive team is described in heroic language. It is said to be the “strategic brain,” the “guiding coalition,” the “engine room,” the “place where the future is made.” These descriptions are comforting. They...
By Manfred Kets de Vries Many of the challenges leaders face are timeless. Asked what was most difficult in the world, the Greek sage Thales is said to have answered: “Know thyself.” More than two millennia later, the advice remains as relevant as ever. Much of what...
Tintin first appeared in 1929. The world Hergé drew for him: dictators, arms dealers, propaganda, corrupt officials. Not a difficult world to recognise in 2026. In this essay, Professor Manfred Kets de Vries asks what this peculiar, blank-faced, eternally curious boy...
Charlie Brown knows the ball will be pulled away. He has always known. Lucy does it every time, across fifty years of daily strips and thousands of iterations. He runs anyway. Most people laugh at that. Then they think about the conversation they keep having, the...
Companies are focused on deploying artificial intelligence. They are paying less attention to what it is doing to the people in charge of AI transformation. Most leaders do not need to be told that AI is changing things. They are feeling it from superiors,...
Every Asterix album opens the same way. A map of Roman-occupied Gaul, four encircling military camps, and the caption: "The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans… Well, not entirely." That "well, not entirely" has sold 380 million albums in 110...
By Manfred Kets de Vries Whether artificial intelligence can replace psychotherapists, executive coaches, or other helping professionals is not a question that yields to a simple yes or no. Much depends on what one means by replace, and even more on what one believes...
By Manfred Kets de Vries One of my clients, let’s call him Johan, came to my office complaining of burnout, although “complaining” is perhaps too lively a word for what he had to say. He did not storm in, did not accuse the world, did not even collapse dramatically...
By KDVI Affiliate, Andrea Foot As I walked into Legal Innovation and Tech Fest 2026 in Sydney last week, I could feel my usual anticipatory rush at joining my community in person. I love a group, meeting new contacts and longstanding friends, and watching how people...
The Emotional Work Leaders Rarely Name By Oriane Kets de Vries, CEO, KDVI Twenty-two years as an entrepreneur have taught me that leading through change is as much emotional work as it is strategic. Leaders tend to focus on managing change while underestimating the...
Senior Associate at KDVI, Adjunct Professor of Leadership Development at TIAS Business School, and executive coach at INSEAD. Margot has coached senior leaders across global organisations following senior roles at Unilever and Kraft Heinz. Since 2010, she has advised multinationals on leadership and organisational development, with a focus on enhancing effectiveness at the top team and board levels. She also serves on the Supervisory Board of Thales Netherlands. Her global perspective is shaped by living and working in Shanghai, Pittsburgh, and London before returning to the Netherlands
Oriane Kets de Vries is CEO and owner of the Kets de Vries Institute. She leads a global team of coaches, consultants and educators dedicated to developing reflective, emotionally intelligent leaders and cultivating workplaces where people can thrive. In her faculty role, she draws on extensive experience designing and directing leadership programmes for senior executives, contributing her expertise in psychodynamic coaching, organisational culture, and transformational leadership development.
Oriane has served as consultant, coach, and programme director for clients including Pictet, Deutsche Bank, Merck, UBS, Mishcon de Reya, and Engie, and she has taught on open-enrolment programmes with leading institutions such as Cambridge Judge Business School, Oxford Saïd, INSEAD, ESCP, ESMT and CEDEP. Her interests centre on the human side of leadership, particularly identity, creativity, entrepreneurship and gender dynamics. She holds an MBA and Executive MA in Coaching and Consulting for Change from INSEAD, has trained at the Harvard Kennedy School, and brings more than a decade of professional experience in creative and entrepreneurial industries into her work with leaders.
Manfred Kets de Vries is a pioneering authority in leadership development, coaching, and organisational change. He is a founder and director of the Kets de Vries Institute (KDVI) and served as Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development and Organisational Change at INSEAD. With academic credentials in economics (University of Amsterdam), management (MBA and DBA, Harvard Business School), and psychoanalysis (trained in Canada), he brings a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective to leadership. His work bridges management theory and clinical insight, establishing him as a global thought leader in executive coaching and transformation. At INSEAD, he founded the Global Leadership Centre and led the flagship programme The Challenge of Leadership for 31 years. He also served as scientific director of Coaching and Consulting for Change, an 18-month Executive Master’s programme that has shaped over 3,000 senior leaders and executive coaches worldwide. He has advised and coached senior executives at global firms including Goldman Sachs, BP, Shell, Unilever, McKinsey, and Volvo. A prolific author of over 60 books and 400 articles, his work appears regularly in The Financial Times, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review. Recognised by Le Capital, Wirtschaftswoche, and The Financial Times as one of the world’s top 50 management thinkers, he is widely regarded for advancing more human-centred approaches to leadership.
Senior Adviser (Luminary) at Accenture and executive coach with over 12 years of board experience. Formerly a banker and McKinsey consultant, Yulia has led banking transformations in digital, agile, organisational change, and talent development. Her coaching spans the finance, tech, and consumer goods sectors, blending technological insight with emotional intelligence to guide leaders through transformation. Recently, she advised BBVA on agile methodologies and senior talent development. Influenced by thought leaders such as Manfred Kets de Vries and Gabor Maté, Yulia brings an analytical, reflective approach to leadership. She has lived and worked across the UK, Spain, the US, and Russia.
Elizabeth has worked closely with Manfred Kets de Vries for many years and has served as a Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow at INSEAD. Her extensive background in leadership development spans organisational consulting, executive coaching, and academic research. She holds advanced degrees in Organisational Development and Clinical Organisational Psychology and is a certified Coaching Supervisor through the Tavistock Institute. Her doctoral research explored experiential domains in executive education, and she has authored or co-authored numerous academic articles, case studies, and books on leadership and organisational dynamics. Elizabeth led the development teams behind KDVI’s diagnostic instruments, including the GELM, OCA™, and ITI. Drawing on her diverse training and global experience, she brings deep cross-cultural insight to her work with leaders worldwide. Originally from California, Elizabeth has made France her home for over 30 years.