Frankl, survivor of Nazi concentration camps

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

Viktor Frankl,  Man’s Search for Meaning (1959)

Karen Horney in 1932. She is a bad ass.   

Karen Horney was a pioneer in psychoanalysis, challenging the widely accepted Freudian theories and creating her own which emphasized cultural influence and potential for growth through self-reflection and self-understanding.  Her fascinating life was the backbone for her research, and her courageous voice still resonates in leadership practices and analysis today.

In brief, Horney set the stage for a mindset that validates self-understanding, self-growth, and cultural and social effects on people’s behavior.  She also provides a framework for self-evaluation. She believes in a real self that we can move toward, away from, or against when we are faced with anxiety. She also supports the idea that neuroses are a result of that movement and are a part of every interaction we have with the world and the people in it.  That idea was a foundation for leadership development, showing that self-awareness and self-growth are important forces in leadership and management environments.  And she did all this in the late 19th and early 20th century while battling her own depression, making her a pretty dang strong woman.

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