How Understanding Your Family Dynamics Can Improve Work

Deborah Ancona, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, and
Dennis Perkins, CEO of The Syncretics Group, have researched how
family dynamics play out in the workplace. They say people often
revert to childhood patterns at work. By applying a concept from
psychology known as family systems theory, managers and leaders can
come to understand how their past influences their behavior and
thus can grow professionally. Ancona and Perkins wrote the HBR
article "Family Ghosts in the Executive Suite."