MANAGEMENT
Hey--this is the Nineties. Change is now so constant it's hard to
know how to lead. Perhaps that's why, not unlike fools, a new book on
leadership is born every minute, inundating already overwhelmed execs
with yet another take on corporate power-broking. Toss the trendy trade
tomes, insists Penn State's Chester Wolford, Ph.D. You'll get more from
the classic way of learning to lead by studying great leaders. From the
epic heroes you can learn the classic codes of leadership and apply them
to ever-shifting circumstances. Wolford is high on Odysseus, Aeneas, and
Henry V--with Hamlet as a model of what not to do. We threw in Jesus, the
subject of a new book Jesus CEO, by Laurie Beth Jones (Hyperion).
Information is presented in the following order: ; Risk taking;
loyalty; leadership by example; spiritual depth; long-term orientation;
who and when?
ODYSSEUS (Homer); Strapped to the mast of his ship, his crew's ears
plugged, he listened to the Siren's song, which had lured countless other
men to their deaths.; when he landed in Ithaca, he encountered a
swineherd, Eumaeus, whom he tested. Finding him loyal and obedient,
Odysseus rewarded him well; He was the last one out of Cyclop's cave,
allowing all his men to escape first.; He was always careful to sacrifice
to the gods.; He spent a decade trying to get home, and in spite of many
temptations and detours, he rarely did anything without this goal in
mind.; Homeric Greece
AENEAS (Virgil); He ultimately risked all by falling in love with
Dido, queen of Carthage.; He betrayed Dido to remain loyal to his
destiny: founding Rome.; His stoicism provided his followers examples of
cool, rational behavior in face of danger.; He was sustained often in his
quest by his faith in the gods and his destiny.; Once he accepted his
goal, he never again wavered.; Augustan Rome
HENRY V (Shakespeare); Merely reasserting claim to lands also
claimed by a then far stronger power was a risk.; Before the Battle of
Agincourt, he whipped up the loyalty of the troops by promising to
provide titles to all who fought, even the lowliest.; Henry marched into
battle with his troops, fighting hard as any.; He gave credit to God, not
himself, for his victory over the French.; Wars are time-honored ways for
leaders to unite a factious nation.; Elizabethan England
JESUS; Resurrection?; He worked with a staff that, in spite of
illiteracy, questionable backgrounds, fractious feelings, and momentary
cowardice, went on to accomplish the tasks he trained them to do.; With
modest means and steadfast dedication, he achieved extraordinary results
that have lasted for centuries.; He never forgot who his boss was.;
Heaven; who can shoot farther than that?; A.D.
HOW NOT TO LEAD
HAMLET (Shakespeare); Even to entertain regicide was risky
business. From this perspective, his endless vacillation was
understandable. Corporate moral: if you want to "kill" the CEO, think
twice and plan, plan, plan.; Loyalty to whom? Polonius's "to thine own
self be true" may have been a platitude, but it remains a theme of the
play. Hamlet either does remain true to himself or carries it a bit far.
His conflict is to remain true to his dead father's demands and perhaps
to the moral demands of punishing his mother's incestuous relationship.;
Examples are sparse in Hamlet, but their absence may be part of the
reason the Danish kingdom was in such a mess. Modern message: Any company
led by a Hamlet is doomed to failure until a decisive CEO (like
Fortinbras) is hired.; Hamlet had lots of this, so much, in fact, that he
seems unable to act.; He seems to have the goal of setting the kingdom
right again. But the only way to right it is to destroy it. Message to
moderns: choose methods of reaching a goal that will not damage the
company permanently.; Shakespeare's Denmark
PHOTO: Henry V
PHOTO: Jesus
PHOTO: Shakespeare
MANAGEMENT
AND IF POOH CAN DO IT...
Talk about classics. Even Winnie-the-Pooh has become a leadership
model of sorts. You can learn as a Very Important Bear of Very Little
Brain is taught to, well...manage.
In Winnie-the-Pooh on Management (Dutton), Roger Allen winds deep
into the Hundred Acre Wood to put the pranks of A.A. Milne's favorite
bear and his tattered cohorts into a warm and fuzzy management
paradigm.
But management does not come easy to Pooh and we learn by his
mistakes.
If you mistook Odysseus for a Calvin Klein fragrance, this is the
book for you.
PHOTO: Winnie-the-Pooh
Tags:
aeneas,
augustan rome,
epic heroes,
execs,
goal in mind,
great leaders,
henry v,
historical figures,
homeric greece,
hyperion,
jesus ceo,
laurie beth jones,
leadership,
loyalty,
nineties,
odysseus,
rational behavior,
risk-taking,
s song,
spiritual depth,
swineherd eumaeus,
virgil,
winnie the pooh,
wolford
