A: Description
Is leadership one’s gift born to possess, or is it only learned through experience? Are there pre-set business models to cultivate leadership? Leadership deals with people, with the complexities of human beings, their cultures, their values, and their beliefs. If we learn from the span of history, from the start of the human civilization, we can see the rise and fall of an empire, the rise and fall of an emperor or a king, and while looking into the historical or fictional stories, we gain valuable insights into the heart of leadership that does not come from the business aisle or the political model. Rather, it can be inspired by the literary classics that stand the test of time to have been read and interpreted again and again in different generations.
This class attempts to introduce an alternative way of examining leadership from a western literary perspective by reading and analyzing famous literary texts and their fictional narratives. The class wishes to challenge students to expand their understanding of a different culture, to rethink their place in the global world, and to prepare themselves as future leaders. As Professor Scott McLennan from Stanford’s Global Business School says, we can learn from fictional characters “not only in their work environment, and in decision-making moments, but in their larger life.” This class also allows the students to seriously READ, DISCUSS, and WRITE in a time when few leaders do critical reading and constructive discussions.
We will start with the classic Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and examine how this western archetype shapes the primordial leadership in the western civilization. George Orwell’s story, Animal Farm, has been an influential work, with easy language and allegories, to portray what happens after the revolution when civilians become the leaders. C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children, but it also delivers messages, lessons, and guidelines for the children how to lead a team and how to work with the team. The Great Gatsby, perhaps one of the most influential contemporary American novels, depicts the life of the legendary tycoon, Jay Gatsby, who also represents the rise of the American empire in the early twentieth century. We will look at Gatsby’s characterization and character. Lastly, we will read the Nigerian classic Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, on the list of ALL-TIME 100 Novels (1923-2005), because the novel helps people see the juxtaposition of traditional African society with the imposition of Western religion, military, and transaction.

領導力是與生俱來還是可以透過經驗學習的？商業理論模式可以教出領導力嗎？「領導」處理的是人類的問題及其複雜程度，包括文化、價值、信仰體系。從人類文明濫觴至今，我們見證了不同帝國的興衰及帝王的起落，而從歷史敘述或文學創作作品中，我們可以理解到領導力的養成並非可以從既定的商業或政治模式而來，而是可以藉由閱讀文學經典，藉由同理/情心，端倪出歷時不衰並超越時代的永恆價值。這堂課希望從閱讀西方文學經典，分析文本及其故事陳述，來探討領導的主題。本門課亦希望挑戰學生從英文原著去理解另一個文化，重新定位我們在全球化的脈絡位置，進而為領導力做思考預備。誠如史丹佛的管院教授麥克蘭所言，從小說的角色裡，我們學到的「不只是他們的工作環境，以及他們在做決策的當下，甚而是他們更廣泛的生活經驗」。在今天數位化的年代，越來越少領導者有時間從事深度的閱讀及進行有建設性的討論，這門課的目的給與修課的學生從另一個角度，重新嚴肅的閱讀，討論及書寫。而本課程的方式將把我們自己帶入虛構的故事情境，扮演故事的主角，考慮困難的商業抉擇─這樣的「個案教學」方法，自哈佛商學院首度施行以來，已經百年。
我們從希臘悲劇《伊底帕斯王》開始，看這部悲劇如何奠定西方文明對領導者的想像及領導的原型。英國作家喬治歐威爾的《動物農莊》是當代具有影響力的寓言故事，從敘述的語言和寓意，我們會探討革命成功後，平民變成領導者會發生了什麼事？接著會探討另一個英國作家C.S.路易斯寫的奇幻小說，《獅子·女巫·魔衣櫥》，這本書不只是給兒童閱讀的最佳讀物，小說裡傳達了許多深刻的領導意涵，譬如小孩之間如何傳達信息，如何在團隊合作等等。探討完歐陸的作品，課程移到新大陸看領導力。紐約作家費茲傑羅的《大亨小傳》講的不只是大亨蓋茲比從無名小卒的崛起到著名大亨的隕落，他代表的更是美國在二十世紀初期。在成為超級強國前的社會、經濟、文化的美國夢原型。最後要讀的文本是奈及利亞的小說家阿契貝寫的《分崩離析》，這本小說被曾被《時代》雜誌評選全球100大最佳英文小說（1923-2005），書中以非洲部落文化對抗外來殖民文化對部落的宗教、軍事、交易的控制，從主角的觀點了解文化衝突對雙方的影響。
本課程旨在訓練學生的「元技能」（meta-skill），這些元技能是個案研究教學帶來的一個好處，而學生從個案方法獲得的七項重要的元技能包括Preparation (準備); Discernment (辨識); Bias Recognition (識別偏見); Judgment (判斷力); Collaboration (協作); Curiosity (好奇心); Self-Confidence (自信心). 在個案討論時最常見的問題是：「如果你是個案的主角，你會怎麼做？」藉由分析長篇小說的情境及故事主角面臨的衝突矛盾去激發學生的好奇心，進而了解世界上的各種機會，以及反思身為領導人，有哪些眾多的方式能發揮影響力。