Who's in Charge Here? The Alphas, of Course

Reviews the book, Alpha Male Syndrome by Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson (see record 2006-13103-000). This is a text aimed at alpha males and those who work with and for them. The authors are executive coaches who have worked with a large number of high-powered clients and seem well versed in the ins and outs of being and dealing with alpha males. (They note that females can also be alphas, but they are less prevalent and less damaging as alphas than are males.) The authors present a substantial amount of background information on alpha males, including a healthy emphasis on alpha triangles. They also discuss alpha male syndrome, by which they mean a host of symptoms that characterize a pattern of behavior that may or may not be unhealthy. Their emphasis on the potential benefits of being an alpha male is particularly enlightening, especially because most of what one hears about alpha males in the media tends to be negative. In summary, this book is quite interesting and enlightening in that it presents a typology of four different alpha males, along with the associated positive and negative characteristics of each, as well as ways to ameliorate those negative aspects and deal with alphas of each type one might encounter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)