Synopses & Reviews
Are you puzzled by how to approach and resolve the leadership dilemmas which arise in your everyday experience, and for which you do not feel prepared?
Do you wish that the conventional textbook on management and leadership seemed somehow more relevant to you, and that the challenges it posed seemed, perhaps, a little more… challenging?
Why is it that we find some of the characters of fiction so engrossing?
Why do we identify with them and their dilemmas, and why do they remain in our minds long after we have "finished" the book in question?
We suggest that literature and the fictional leaders it contains have very much more to offer us than a "good read," and that this is a neglected source. Fictional Leaders contains sixteen in-depth and fascinating studies of leaders all over the world. Perhaps your favorite fictional hero, villain or absent friend is already amongst them!
Review
Synopsis
Management theory is vague about the experience of leading. Success, power, achievement are discussed but less focus is given to negative experiences leaders faced such as loneliness or disappointment. This book addresses difficult-to-explore aspects of leadership through well-known works of literature drawing lessons from fictional leaders.
Synopsis
Are you puzzled by how to approach and resolve the leadership dilemmas which arise in your everyday experience, and for which you do not feel prepared?
Do you wish that the conventional textbook on management and leadership seemed somehow more relevant to you, and that the challenges it posed seemed, perhaps, a little more… challenging?
Why is it that we find some of the characters of fiction so engrossing?
Why do we identify with them and their dilemmas, and why do they remain in our minds long after we have "finished" the book in question?
We suggest that literature and the fictional leaders it contains have very much more to offer us than a "good read," and that this is a neglected source. Fictional Leaders contains sixteen in-depth and fascinating studies of leaders all over the world. Perhaps your favorite fictional hero, villain or absent friend is already amongst them!
About the Author
JONATHAN GOSLING is a professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter and has published articles in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Leadership, Management Learning, Academy of Management Learning and Education, and in many more practice-oriented outlets. Professor Gosling advises several companies, international agencies and government departments on their leadership-related issues. He is a Fellow of the Windsor Leadership Trust, of the Leadership Trust Foundation ,Trustee of the Fintry Trust and JH Levy Trust, on the Advisory Board of the Defense Academy, a co-director of the European Leadership Center, and a director of Coaching Ourselves Inc. As director of the Center for Leadership Studies, he works with a first-rate team of researchers, teachers and consultants collectively making a significant impact on both the understanding and practice of leadership. In 2009, Professor Gosling became a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership Development at INSEAD, France, where he will continue research into experiential methods in leadership development. He has been Visiting Professor at McGill University, Quebec, and at Lund University, Sweden PETER VILLIERS is a writer, lecturer and consultant with a wealth of practical experience in leadership and development. He served in the merchant navy, as a captain in the Royal Armored Corps in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Hong Kong, and as the principal of a tutorial college. He lectured for 18 years from 1986 to 2004 as a senior tutor at the UK National Police Staff College, where his final position was head of human rights. He is a widely published author and has written textbooks, histories, guides, biographies and plays.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I
Cyrus the Great and the Obedience of the Willing - Xenophon's Historic Fiction; L.MitchellSharing the Secret - Joseph Conrad on Leadership at Sea; P.VilliersHornblower's Lament - Captain Horatio Hornblower RN and the Isolation of Command; S.Jones'All my means are sane'; B.SieversPastoral; D.Weir'Things for fall apart'; J.GoslingJopplolo's Ghost - A Bell for Adano; N.ProvizerPART II
James Bond; B.HawkinsMurisami; C.Land, M.Sliwa and S.SpoelstraPinchon; P.Pelzer and P.CaseBlanchot; H.Lettiche and J-L.MoriceauPART III
Mahayana and Ramayana; H.VermaTennyson, Whitman and Dickinson; B.MossbergTagore; S.KumarPlato's Apology; N.HarterTen Great Works; R.AdlamContributors
Index