learn (nearly) everything about leadership from … (nearly...learn (nearly) everything about...
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Learn (Nearly)
Everything about
Leadership from
World LiteratureDrs. Jill Channing and Thomas Cardoza
Truckee Meadows Community College
Reno, NV
Going Negative! Defining leadership
through bad leaders!▶ The Manager (Heart of
Darkness)
▶ Unimaginative, routine-
minded, amoral.
▶ Mr. Kurtz
▶ Selfish, violent, lacking in
“restraint.”
▶ Colonel Cathcart (Catch-22)
▶ Dishonest, uncaring, self-
promoting. Holds his
subordinates to higher
standards than himself.
▶ Tartuffe
▶ Dishonest, manipulative,
ambitious.
“All that we most revere, he uses/To
cloak his plots and camouflage his ruses.”
--Dorine in Tartuffe, Act 5, Scene 7
“It is a well-known fact that those people
who must want to rule people are, ipso
facto, those least suited to do it... anyone
who is capable of getting themselves made
President should on no account be allowed
to do the job.”
--Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at
the End of the Universe
Society for Human Resources Management:
Leadership Competencies Categories
▶ Leading the organization
▶ Leading the self
▶ Leading others
Machiavelli, in The Prince, giving advice about adapting to change
If a man conducts himself with caution and
patience, times and affairs may come around in
such a way that his procedure is good, and he goes
on successfully. But if times and circumstances
change, he is ruined, because he does not change
his method of action.
I have been writing and lecturing a good deal
recently about leadership, focusing on aspects I
feel are often crowded out by the charismatic
personal traits that draw admiration and are
frequently mistaken as a necessary quality of
leadership. Instead I have focused on humility,
trust, perseverance, creativity and the simple
desire to step up and take on a challenge and
make the world a better place.
Doug Guthrie, Forbes Magazine
Leading the Organization
▶ Managing change
▶ Solving problems and making decisions
▶ Managing politics and influencing others
▶ Taking risks and innovating
Managing Change
▶ Aeneas▶ Must deal with changing cultures and must make difficult decisions
in order to serve his people best
▶ Gilgamesh▶ His early rule is disastrous, but he gains wisdom and becomes a
great leader.
Solving Problems and Making Decisions
▶ Beowulf▶ Thinks critically to solve problems and is willing to take risks to try
different approaches for the sake of his people and to help others
▶ Odysseus▶ Develops the Trojan Horse and tricks the cyclops
Managing Politics and Influencing Others ▶ Gandalf
▶ Gandalf is The Great Instigator.” He moves behind the scenes and organizes a multi-racial coalition against Sauron, yet never seeks riches, power, or control. All his belongings are on is back.
▶ Moses▶ Manages the politics of Egypt, contends with Pharaoh, and influences
the other Israelites
Taking Risks and Innovating
▶ Odysseus▶ Innovates and takes risks to survive
▶ Buddha▶ Leaves the luxury of the palace and tries various techniques for
enlightenment, eventually finding the middle path
Senator Onésimo Sanchez, says to a crowd of constituents
with whom he uses demagoguery in Gabriel García Márquez’s
“Death Constant Beyond Love”
“We are here for the purpose of defeating
nature,” he began, against all his convictions.
“We will no longer be foundlings in our own
country, orphans of God in a realm of thirst and
bad climate, exiles in our own land. We will be
different people, ladies and gentlemen, we will
be a great and happy people.”
Leading the Organization
▶ Setting vision and strategy
▶ Managing the work
▶ Enhancing skills and knowledge
▶ Understanding and navigating the organization
▶ Fostering a sense of connection and belonging
Setting Vision and Strategy
▶The Prince▶ Gives detailed strategies for
understanding and navigating kingdoms (i.e. take pains not to be hated)
▶Tiresias (Blind prophet of Thebes )▶ Appears in Oedipus the King and
Antigone▶ Represents the same force — the
truth rejected by a willful and proud king, almost the personification of Fate itself
Managing the Work
▶Dido▶ Leads the creation of Carthage and navigates a patriarchal society
as a female monarch
▶Candide▶ “We must cultivate our garden”
Enhancing Skills and Knowledge
▶Dante▶ Learns from this travels and
experience
▶Gilgamesh▶ Pushes the limits of what is possible▶ Eventually learns to appreciate the simple pleasures of life
Understanding and Navigating
the Organization
▶Jesus▶ Anticipates true meaning of
questions (i.e. Should we pay taxes? Who are our neighbors?)
▶Penelope▶ Uses tactics to fend off suitors by unweaving her tapestry every night
Fosters a Sense of Connection
and Belonging
▶Aeneas▶ Fosters a sense of belonging to the Latinus people by taking on their language and culture when he becomes king
▶Achilles▶ Forms strong bonds (some say homosexual--Patroclus) with other soldiers, so they fight fiercely for one another
Confucius said this to his disciple Ran Yong when he asked
about humanity
What you do not wish for yourself, do not
impose upon others. Let no resentment enter
public affairs; let no resentment enter
private affairs.
Leading the Self
▶ Demonstrating ethics and integrity
▶ Displaying drive and purpose
▶ Exhibiting leadership stature
▶ Increasing your capacity to learn
Demonstrating Ethics and Integrity
▶Aeneas▶ Has to sacrifice much to obtain his goal
▶Beowulf▶ Puts his people and friends before himself (altruism)
▶Ruth▶ Acts in ways that promote the wellbeing of others▶ Demonstrates hesed by not going back to Moab but accompanying her mother-in-law to a foreign land (loyal)
Displaying Drive and Purpose
▶Candide▶ Leads his group with conviction, after he
has learned much, to be satisfied with the simple life
▶Jane Eyre▶ Remains calm and overcomes many
obstacles throughout novel
▶Frodo and Sam▶ Have drive and purpose, carrying the Ring into Mordor when bigger, stronger heroes cannot
▶ Miyamoto Musashi▶ Both in fighting and in everyday life you
should be determined though calm.
Exhibiting Your Leadership Stature▶Beowulf▶ Exhibits great leadership statue
by taking initiative▶ Displays ability to realize in
actions what he boasts in public
▶Theoden▶ Leads the charges at Helm’s Deep
and the Pellenor Fields, even though they will likely end in his death (and does)
▶Sampson▶ Displays feats of strength▶ Stands up to others and injustice
Suddenly the king cried to
Snowmane and the horse sprang
away. Behind him his banner blew
in the wind, white horse upon a
field of green, but he outpaced it.
After him thundered the knights of
his house, but he was ever before
them… For morning came, morning
and a wind from the sea; and
darkness was removed, and the hosts
of Mordor wailed, and terror took
them, and they fled, and died, and
the hoofs of wrath rode over them.
--The Return of the King
Increasing Your Capacity to Learn▶Beowulf
▶ Learns humility and the need to obtain help from others at the end; cannot take it all on himself
▶Candide▶ Has much drive and purpose and leads his group, after he has learned much, to be satisfied with the simple life
▶King Shahryār▶ Learns from Scheherazade about patience, tolerance, and avoidance of over-generalization
▶ Okonkwo▶ Rigid adherence to tradition leads to disaster, exile, and death.
Ezinma, who is flexible and adaptable, proves successful in life
Polonius gives advice to his son, Laertes, upon his embarking
to France in Hamlet
Take each man’s censure [opinion], but
reserve thy judgement. … This above all: to
thine own self be true.
Leading the Self
▶ Managing yourself
▶ Increasing self-awareness
▶ Developing adaptability and resilience
Managing Yourself
▶Creon▶ Learns to be flexible because being inflexible causes great loss
▶ Galadriel▶ Understands that her desire for the
power of The Ring will undo her and turn her to evil. She chooses exile and loss of her kingdom instead.
▶ “I pass the test. I will diminish,
and go into the West and remain
Galadriel.”
Increasing Self-awareness▶Hamlet▶ Engages in a great amount of
self-reflection, which causes him to uncover much about himself and those around him
▶Gilgamesh▶ Becomes wiser through his
struggles▶ Ceases to oppress his people
▶Gandalf▶ Knows his limitations and
knows when he needs help▶ Refuses the ring, even though
he could really use it
"No!," cried Gandalf, springing to his
feet. "With that power I should have
power too great and terrible. And over
me the Ring would gain a power still
greater and more deadly." His eyes
flashed and his face was lit as by a fire
within. "Do not tempt me! For I do not
wish to become like the Dark Lord
himself.”
Developing Adaptability and Resilience
▶Penelope▶ Adapts to life without Odysseus
for 20 years and manages lands on her own
▶Robinson Crusoe▶ Adapts to life on the island and
survives
▶Odysseus▶ Adapts to life away from home and learns humility from facing great trials
King Hrothgar to Beowulf after his speech in the Hall
The Lord in his wisdom sent you those words
and they came from the heart. I have never
heard so young a man make truer observations.
You are strong in body and mature in mind,
impressive in speech
Leading Others
▶ Communicating
effectively
▶ Developing and
empowering others
▶ Valuing diversity and
difference
▶ Building and
maintaining
relationships
▶ Managing effective
teams and work groups
Communicating Effectively
▶Fairy Mistress in “Lanval”▶ Comes to Lanval’s rescue,
speaking truth to power (to
Arthur and his knights)
▶Beowulf▶ Uses boasting to
communicate values
▶Jesus▶ Parables: simple stories
with deep significance
Developing and Empowering Others
▶Beowulf▶ Elevates Wiglaf so that he
may achieve success as his heir
and as a warrior who helped
defeat the dragon
▶Gandalf▶ Encourages others and gives
advice and guidance
▶Confucius▶ Teaches and develops ethical
codes through dialogues with
disciples
Valuing Diversity and Difference
▶Elrond▶ Builds the Fellowship of
the Ring from all four races,
knowing that in diversity
there is strength
▶Wizard of Oz▶ Uses each character’s
skills to aid in progress in
journey
Building and Maintaining Relationships▶Achilles
▶ Builds strong relationships with
comrades and fights fiercely
alongside them as an effective
team
▶Mohammed▶ Unites Arabia and builds
communities
▶Candide▶ Gets everyone to “work
without arguing,” even entitled
people used to laziness and luxury
Managing Effective Teams and Work
Groups
▶Spartacus▶ Built an effective and coherent
army out of a disparate group of
escaped slaves
▶Bilbo Baggins▶ Transformed himself from a
reluctant (and despised) tagalong
into the group leader who brought
about Smaug’s defeat and the
restoration of the Kingdoms of
Erebor and Dale
▶ Saves the day, despite opposition
from within and without
Already they had come
to respect little Bilbo.
Now he had become the
real leader in their
adventure. He had
begun to have ideas and
plans of his own.
--The Hobbit
Group Work!▶ Discuss in groups of three, what lessons about leadership you have learned
today or in your own reading? How do these lessons inform your specific leadership practices?
▶ What other examples from world literature can you think of that would be helpful to a new leader? A seasoned leader?
▶ Can some dreams seem realistic to some individuals but illusions of realities to others? How could this impact leadership and the relationships between leaders and followers within an organization?
▶ How do the relationships built at a young age impact a leader’s moral code? Do some types of relationships affect the ability to develop good moral code more than others?
▶ Since it largely requires hindsight and reflection to gauge if an individual is ready for responsibilities, how can a leader utilize relationships established within an organization to provide aid when challenges arise?
▶ What are the hidden hazards of success as an educator and leader?
▶ Is reflection an independent undertaking or can it be collaborative?
Whole Session Conclusion
▶ What were the most pertinent concepts,
ideas, or strategies you learned during this
session?
▶ What was the most interesting thing you
learned from the group work?
▶ What is something you learned today that
you will share with a colleague at your
home institution?
Questions?
References▶ Leadership competencies. (2008). Society for Human Resource Management.
Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-
topics/behavioral-competencies/leadership-and-
navigation/pages/leadershipcompetencies.aspx
▶ Simon, P. (Ed.). (2012). The Norton anthology of world literature (Vols. A-F).
New York, NY: W. W. Norton.