On Leadership

by James G. March (Stanford University); Thierry Weil (Ecole des Mines de Paris)

• ISBN13: 9781405142618
• ISBN10: 1405142618
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-02-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

In this series of lectures, previously unpublished in English, and here translated from a French reconstruction and interpretation by noted scholar Thierry Weil, leading organizational scholar James March uses great works of literature to explore the problems of leadership. Uses great works of literature to explore the problems of leadership, for example War and Peace, Othello, and Don Quixote. Presents moral dilemmas related to leadership, for example the balance between private life and public duties, and between the expression and the control of sexuality. Encourages readers to explore ideas that are sometimes subversive and unpalatable but may allow organizations to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Preface

Introduction: an original approach to a hackneyed subject

The organization of the course

From oral to written presentation

Issues linked with leadership

Othello: leadership and private life, innocence and cleverness, revenge and the social order

Prologue on the appreciation of leaders

Private life and public role

Can revenge serve the social order?

Cleverness, innocence, and virtue

Why do people act as they do?

The characters in Othello

Saint Joan: are heretics mad or are they geniuses?

Exploitation and exploration

Can leaders selected for their reliability be turned into creative leaders?

Diversity and unity

Saint Joan

War and Peace: ambiguity, incoherence, and irrelevance

Ambiguity and incoherence: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Leaders confronted by ambiguity

A novel with a structure reflecting a view of history: irrelevance

The social order in War and Peace

What is power?

The powerlessness of power

Power and hierarchy

Power as seen by those who do not have it

Assuming the ambivalence of power

Identity and social order: the characters in War and Peace

Heroism and irrelevance

The social order based on merit

Why we are disappointed by our bosses

Why are bosses not particularly clever?

Sex and leadership

The sexed nature of leadership in organizations

Sexuality and organizations

Private fantasies and social control of behavior

Sexual harassment

Sexual relationships

Ambiguous sexual behavior

The sexuality of leaders

Are efficient organizations feminine?

Efficient organizations with no heroic leader

Don Quixote and the virtue of arbitrary commitment

A strange novel

Don Quixote and reality

Primary implications for leadership

Don Quixote's vision of life

Other lessons for leaders from Don Quixote

Great visions, great actions, and great expectations

Heroes to protect us from our own irrelevance

The stuff that dreams are made of

The pleasures of the process

Plumbers and poets

What do leaders really do?

Appendix 1: INTELLIGENCE VERSUS REASON, an overview of James March's work

Miseries of Reason

The limitations of rationality or the critique of pure reason

The application of suitable procedures or the critique of practical reason

Thwarted learning or the critique of dialectic reason

The technology of foolishness or the critique of immediate reason

Splendors of Reason

The charms of orthodoxy

The rigorous and efficient use of reason

Systemic reason or the quest for intelligence

Redemption through enthusiasm

The collective need for individual gambles

How to make the challenge of exploration attractive

Beyond rationality: poetry, intuition, and enthusiasm

Institutions are not based on haggling alone

Insignificant actions

Optimism without hope

Mundane organizations and gardening

Intelligence Versus Reason: An Overview of James March's Work

Mundane Organizations and Heroic Leaders

Index

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