Personality at Work: The Drivers and Derailers of Leadership

APPENDIX A

Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary lived on the extremes: he was recruited to Harvard University by David McClelland in the late 1950s and later derailed and was fired by Harvard around an LSD study scandal in the early 1960s.

Leary took a rocky path from Middle America to the American intellectual elite. He attended West Point at his father’s urging, but constant rule infractions led to his exit. He enrolled at the University of Alabama but was soon expelled for spending the night in a woman’s room. He lost his draft deferment and conscripted into the Army toward the end of World War II. It was in the army that Leary developed interests in psychology and a fascination with combat soldiers returning with “shell shock.” With a few years ...