Why do 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? Literature and its imaginary leaders have very much more to offer us than a 'good read'. Fictional Leaders contains in-depth studies of leadership, as described, admired and sometimes excoriated by some of the world's greatest novelists and poets. Perhaps your favourite fictional hero or villain is analysed here, or the absent friend whose leadership might have made a difference. The idea of leadership is itself the hero (or villain) of some chapters: is it a delusion, a distraction or an absurd folly that we pin so much faith on leaders? You may find more in this book that is of relevance to you and the challenges you face in your everyday experience than in the conventional textbooks on management and leadership. You will certainly find a different approach, and the challenges presented here may be just a little more . . . challenging
Notes on Contributors -- Introduction -- Xenophon and the Pursuit of Willing Obedience by Cyrus the Great; L.Mitchell -- Sharing the Secret - Joseph Conrad on Leadership at Sea; P.Villiers -- The Isolation of the Spirit - Captain Horatio Hornblower RN; S.Jones -- Leadership and Monomania: Herman Melville's Moby Dick; B.Sievers -- Nevil Shute - 'Pastoral'; D.Weir -- 'Things for fall apart' - Chinua Achebe; J.Gosling -- Leadership and Improvisation - 'A Bell for Adano' by John Hersey; N.Provizer -- The Silhouette of Leadership - James Bond and Miss Moneypenny; B.Hawkins -- 'A Wild Sheep Chase' - Haruki Murakami; C.Land, M.Sliwa & S.Spoelstra -- Leadership and Expectation - Thomas Pynchon; P.Pelzer & P.Case -- Leadership - 'The Madness of the Day' by Maurice Blanchot; H.Letiche & J-L.Moriceau -- Leadership and Dharma: The Indian Epics 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' and Their Significance for Leadership Today; H.Verma -- The Leader as Poet: Tennyson, Whitman and Dickinson; B.Mossberg -- Leadership and Tradition: Rabindranath Tagore S.Kumar -- Leadership and Acceptability: Plato and the Odium of Truth; N.Harter -- Ten Great Works for Leadership Development; R.Adlam -- Index --
Why do 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? Literature and its imaginary leaders have very much more to offer us than a 'good read'
