Deborah Ancona

Dennis N.T. Perkins

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Concept</h5>
  <p>Early in life, family dynamics give rise to many fundamental behaviors and attitudes toward authority, mastery, and identity. When similar dynamics emerge at work, people often revert to childhood patterns.</p>
  <h5>The Insight</h5>
  <p>To enable change, psychologists often encourage clients to consider the nature of their original family system. This approach has been widely applied to behaviors in the personal realm but can—and should—be applied at work too.</p>
  <h5>The Way Forward</h5>
  <p>Six factors influence how family dynamics play out in the workplace. To achieve your greatest potential, you need to understand how those factors have helped make you who you are.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p>The theory goes like this: If you want to become a better leader, you have to seek out feedback and engage in self-reflection. Do that, and you’ll come to understand your strengths and weaknesses, which in turn will allow you to embark on a program of self-improvement.</p>

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<p>Professional growth can get stymied for all sorts of reasons. But one of the most important is rarely discussed: You&#8217;re contending with ghosts from your past. Early in life, family dynamics give rise to many fundamental behaviors and attitudes toward authority, mastery, and identity. When similar dynamics emerge at work, people often revert to childhood patterns.</p>
<p>To enable change in the personal realm, psychologists often encourage clients to consider the nature of their original family system. This approach can&#8212;and should&#8212;be applied at work too.</p>
<p>Guided by the tenets of family-systems theory and their own research, the authors have identified six elements of family dynamics that commonly play out in the workplace. To achieve your greatest potential as a leader, you need to recognize your own &#8220;family ghosts,&#8221; understand how they influence your behavior at work, and decide which ones to celebrate and which ones to leave behind.</p>

Family Ghosts in the Executive Suite

Professional growth can get stymied for all sorts of reasons. But one of the most important is rarely discussed: You’re contending with ghosts from your past. Early in life, family dynamics give rise to many fundamental behaviors and attitudes toward authority, mastery, and identity. When similar dynamics emerge at work, people often revert to childhood patterns. To enable change in the personal realm, psychologists often encourage clients to consider the nature of their original family system. This approach can—and should—be applied at work too. Guided by the tenets of family-systems theory and their own research, the authors have identified six elements of family dynamics that commonly play out in the workplace. To achieve your greatest potential as a leader, you need to recognize your own “family ghosts,” understand how they influence your behavior at work, and decide which ones to celebrate and which ones to leave behind.

Family Ghosts in the Executive Suite

Summary.

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