MARK VAN VUGT is professor of social and organizational psychology at the VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands. A leading authority on the evolutionary origins of leadership, he has worked with major figures in evolutionary science, including David Buss, David Sloan Wilson, Robert Hogan and Robin Dunbar. His research has been reported all over the world, both in print and broadcast. He has been featured in The Times and New Scientist, and he has talked about his work on BBC Radio Four and on CNN and ABC television. He regularly gives lectures to research departments and business schools in both the UK and the US.

SELECTED
Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters
MARK VAN VUGT & ANJANA AHUJA

There are few concepts as widely discussed but as little understood as leadership. By taking us back to the deepest historical and physiological foundations of our desire to lead and our willingness to follow, SELECTED makes an important contribution to addressing this deficit. It is a fascinating and eminently readable book, full of information you will want to share and arguments you will want to debate. As the authors show, much of human behaviour is explained by the fact that we are using prehistoric brains to navigate a modern world. By revealing the evolutionary foundation of leadership, SELECTED helps us understand why we have the assumptions we do and encourages us to think again about the best ways to lead – Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA

We are all leaders or followers – or both – and we can recognize leadership in almost every area of life. But what makes a good, bad or even outstanding leader?

Fusing psychology, business, history and current affairs, SELECTED examines how and why leadership has evolved over tens of thousands of years, and presents a compelling new hypothesis: that the slow pace of evolution means there is a mismatch between modern leadership and the kind of leadership that our Stone Age brains are still wired for.

Combining academic authority with journalistic style, and full of fascinating examples spanning politics, commerce, sport and culture, the authors explain why taller political candidates usually win, why middle managers are so disliked and why we don’t like working for huge companies.

This extraordinary book explores how the psychology of leadership affects us all – and what we can do about it.

Publisher: Profile (UK)/HarperCollins (US)
Publication: 27 August 2010 (UK)/18 January 2011 (US)
Length: 272 pages

All rights available excluding:
UK & Commonwealth, US, Canada (Random House), Japan (Hayakawa), Korea (Wooongjin Think Big Co.), Netherlands (Bruna)