ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some images of leadership discussed by psychoanalytic writers and then link these to a discussion of leadership as a role within social systems from a socio-analytic perspective. S. Freud's myth of the primal horde with its tyrannical, despotic father/leader who monopolized sexual relations with the females and cast out any male competitors provides a powerful image of leadership. In the state-of-mind of the primal horde, a mindless basic assumption type of group psychology exists where the brothers are forced into inhibited sexuality and tender feelings towards one another because the chief monopolizes the women. Perverse dynamics occur in groups and organizations when a pervasive denial of important aspects of reality occurs alongside a narcissistic group culture with an instrumental attitude towards interpersonal and role relations. Authority is sanctioned power and a formal leader is sanctioned to use the power that comes with the office.
