Elesa Zehndorfer PhD
 

I am a Managing Partner at Austria-based management consulting firm Lakeside Partners GmbH. Specialising in leadership studies (writing, lecturing & consulting), I am an eMBA lecturer, Research Fellow, experienced academic & award-winning writer. My seventh book, Post-Truth Politics: A Brave New World?  (published by Taylor & Francis) was released February 2025. I also manage the Psychology Today blog Political Animals & Animal Spirits. I recently had the pleasure of delivering a TEDx talk about fake news to an incredible 600-strong TEDx crowd in beautiful city of Klagenfurt, Austria recently, which you can view here. I earned my (leadership-focused) PhD from Loughborough University in 2006. 

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A wise colleague once told me that ​​great leadership is like a Yeti - everybody knows what it looks like but virtually no-one has seen one. Consequently, I am fascinated by the dark side of leadership - what happens when it becomes destructive & toxic. This has led me to focus powerfully in recent years on post-truth politics, populism, the dark side of charisma &, more recently, the widespread phenomenon of burnout. As a Senior Advisor to the Paddy Ashdown Research Forum, and the Research Officer of British Mensa, I value the integrity of data above all else. You can read more about my books here. ​​​​