Victims of Success: Emotional Problems of Executives. Benjamin B. Wolman. New York:  Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co., 1973.  v + 160 pp.

Benjamin Wolman has written a book on psychoanalytic theory intended for the lay audience. He sets himself the task of explicating the concepts of psychoanalysis and showing how these concepts may be applied to the life of a typical executive. The issues he raises are particularly salient to the achievement-oriented businessman: coping with success and failure, the problems of leadership, and pressures on family life, among others. Written in a conversational style and enlivened by many case histories, the book should appeal to a wide readership. For a short book, it touches on an impressively broad set of relevant topics.

For example, Wolman examines ways in which leadership can go astray: the senior executive may come to believe in his indispensability and fail to delegate work to his assistants; the junior executive may wish to replace his boss but unconsciously fear his power. Both men are trapped in neurotic behavior patterns, and Wolman discusses how their perceptions of their own situations can be set aright.

More such examples would be easy to give. Wolman's discursive style ranges over any number of neurotic patterns in the life of the “successful” businessman. In each case the author shows how psychoanalytic theory elucidates the problem and thereby contributes to its practical solution. Wolman has had long experience in treating businessmen, and his clinical acumen reveals itself throughout the book.

This is an entertaining anecdotal work which indirectly, and perhaps unintentionally, offers an ironic comment on the perils of upward mobility.