The author -- Part 1: The unconscious conspiracy and how to confound it -- One job, one year, one life -- Learning some basic truisms about leadership -- The new metaphysics of our age -- Part 2: A society without dreams -- The long slide from true leadership -- Back to the future -- The age of unreality -- Where have all the leaders gone? -- Part 3: Parts of the problem -- Bosses as heroes and celebrities -- When there are too many chiefs -- Bottom-line obsessions -- Untapped human capital -- The perils of accord -- The pornography of leadership -- When winning is losing -- The name of the game is greed -- Part 4: Parts of the solution -- Leading to make a difference -- A bright future for complexity -- Letting virtues shine through -- Quitting on principle -- Canceling the doppelgänger effect -- Leader power that no one has -- Avoiding disaster during periods of change -- Dealing with the way things are -- Postscript.