Hedgehogs and Foxes : Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations

by Zaleznik, Abraham

• ISBN13: 9780230606234
• ISBN10: 0230606237
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-07-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

"In this compelling look at charismatic leaders and their leadership styles. Abraham Zaleznik asserts that leaders are either hedgehogs, who view leadership as a single-minded track driven by unwavering rules, or foxes, who assess and re-evaluate their goals and strategies based on ever-changing factors in business, politics, and culture." "The story in back of a leader's life of thought: and action is always a mixed bag. If the proper study of mankind is man, the enduring lessons of leadership will emerge from the study of lives, of men and women who with an often tenuous grasp of command and less than perfect clarity in inner visions, dependent on the strength and the mobility of their character, search for the courage to lead. Leaders present their life stories as a text, calling upon readers to engage in vertical thinking as a way of identifying with that text." "This book contains five parts. Each part consists of two narrative chapters on the life and work of individuals caught up in the trappings of power and struggling to make it meaningful in their lives and the lives of others who become part of their story. The third chapter in each part is thematic using the stories to sharpen the portrayals of character in action in positions of responsibility."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Abraham Zaleznik is Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, Harvard Business School. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, 1996, and the McKinsey award for best article in the Harvard Business Review.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
The Optimists	p. 7
The Propensity for Risk: Eisenhower in the Military and the Presidency	p. 9
A Disengaged President: Ronald Reagan and His Lieutenants	p. 23
Character and Mood in Presidential Leadership	p. 45
The Narcissists	p. 59
To Be Single Minded: Admiral Hyman G. Rickover and the Nuclear Navy	p. 61
A Change Agent: Florence Nightingale and Medical Reform	p. 77
The Uses of Aggression in Overcoming Bureaucracy	p. 95
The Managers	p. 103
The Education of Robert S. McNamara: Secretary of Defense, 1961-1968	p. 105
From Monomania to Megalomania: Harold Geneen and ITT	p. 121
The Myth and Reality of the Managerial Mystique	p. 137
The Empowerers	p. 147
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Militant Nonviolence: A Psychoanalytic Study	p. 149
Frantz Fanon: Purgation Through Violence	p. 163
The Psychodynamics of Empowerment	p. 175
The Humanists	p. 185
Joseph Conrad: Sharing the Secret of Command	p. 187
Herman Melville's Billy Budd: A Study of Character	p. 199
Identity, Imagination, and Command	p. 211
Conclusion	p. 219
Character and Fitness for Command	p. 221
Notes	p. 229
Bibliography	p. 239
Index	p. 245
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