Jack Denfeld Wood

Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Jack Denfeld Wood is Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Organizational Behavior. His publications and areas of special interest include the role of unconscious processes in leadership and followership, group and inter-group dynamics, and ideology.

Along with his academic work and organizational consultation, Wood was Professor of Management Practice at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in China, and a visiting professor at the Moscow School of Management (Skolkovo), Russia. He is a practicing analyst with a diploma from the CG Jung Institute, Zürich, and is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Academy of Management (AOM), the AK Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (AKRI), International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA), and the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP), and has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Transactional Analysis Journal, the Financial Times, Forbes, and elsewhere.

Wood’s view of leadership is multilevel, multidimensional, and social-psychological, i.e., he considers leadership not simply an individual collection of traits, nor a series of interpersonal transactions, but leadership is then a social and psychological process that is fundamentally exercised in the small group. Organizational behavior is consequently an expression of conscious cognitive and largely unconscious emotional group and intergroup dynamics. The primary task of leadership development, then, is then to provide the opportunity for individuals to develop their capacity to exercise leadership responsibly.

Wood majored in Government at Colby College in the United States and was an active duty US Air Force officer and pilot following graduation. Following active duty, he continued to fly aircraft for the Air National Guard while earning an MA in social psychology at Syracuse University, and an MA, MPhil, and PhD in organizational behavior at Yale University. His doctoral dissertation was A Theory of Small Group Structure, and combined field and multivariate quantitative research, developing methods for conceptualizing ideology and its influence on the structure, dynamics, and leadership decision making of small groups.

Insight for Executives
Article
Entdeckung des Unbewussten - warum man Führung nicht lehren kann

Leadership
1 April 2011
Article
Learn to Lead

The responsible exercise of leadership is not the result of putting someone in a particular job, investing him or her with formal authority, and giving them a book of ethical rules to follow. The h...

Leadership
4 June 2010
Article
In the crowded leadership development market, understanding the difference between coaches, counsellors, and psychotherapists is vital

In recent years, the trend in executive education has turned increasingly toward behavioural topics. Corporations come to business schools and consulting firms seeking professionals skilled in deve...

Organizational Learning Coaching
1 February 2006
Article
How TA found a way

Eric Berne, a psychoanalyst, forged a new innovative path in the field of psychotherapy through reacting positively to rejection and bein a team player.

Leadership Team Dynamics
1 October 2005
Article
Hinter den Kulissen von Verhandlungen

Negotiation
28 February 1998
Article
Verhandlungen sind eine Frage des Klimas

Negotiation
29 November 1997
Article
Viele denken immer noch in Länder-Schubladen

28 November 1997
Article
Was macht Menschen zu Leadern?

Leadership
7 November 1997
Article
Der Mensch, das unbekannte Wesen

18 July 1997
Article
Construire une équipe: La mise en épreuve

Team Dynamics
23 May 1997
Article
La nature de l'idéologie

Leadership
2 May 1997
Article
Leadership à deux tête

Leadership
25 April 1997
Article
Qu'est-ce qui fait le leader?

Leadership
18 April 1997
Article
Mener à bien des négociations

Negotiation
28 March 1997
Article
Les coulisses de la négociation

Negotiation
21 March 1997
Article
L'art subtil de la négociation

Negotiation
14 March 1997
Article
La culture n'explique pas tout

Organizational Culture
28 February 1997
Article
Une discipline vitale

Organizational Behavior
24 January 1997