A Special Note on Course Content
The course uses a mix of source materials—in business, international relations, biography, history, even literature. This blend reflects the multi-faceted nature of leadership itself. The literary sources in particular are included by design, for they offer something that a traditional business case or scholarly article cannot: the opportunity to “see” into the heads of key actors. No matter how forthcoming, no leader is willing or capable of describing the real ethical, emotional and spiritual dilemmas and trade-offs that he or she faces, yet these issues go to the very heart of leadership. By contrast, the use of a short story or novella as case study allows these issues to come to life; students are better able to understand the conflicting sense of guilt, ambition, disappointment, duty, loyalty, and other emotions that leaders face. Experience in the classroom has also demonstrated that student participation is most active with respect to these materials. Indeed, students can usually relate to everyday characters more than they can to the traditional “heroic” models (e.g., Gandhi, Mother Theresa) that are frequently the mainstay of leadership studies.

Session 1: Introduction
Overview of the Course
Session 2: Setting the Stage
An introduction to the traditional approaches to leadership study. In this session students are also
introduced to the analytical framework that the course follows for purposes of thinking about leadership.
Required Reading:
Carlyle, Thomas. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in
History. Berkeley: University of California Press (1993), pp. 3-4.
Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. New York: Modern Library
(1994) [translated by Constance Garnett], pp. 687-691. McEwan, Ian. Enduring Love. New York: Doubleday (1997), pp. 1-17.
Williams, William Carlos. “The Use of Force.” (1938).

Session 3: Leadership & Accountability
In this session students consider whether or not there are basic
universal ethical duties. If so, to whom are these duties owed?
Required Reading:
“Truman and the Bomb” (class hand-out) “Morality and Duties” (class hand-out)
“Morality and Consequences,” Harvard Business School Note #9-390-206 (1991)

Session 4: Leadership & Accountability
In this session students explore a
critical issue that is not talked about often---what duties do we owe to
ourselves? How do leaders square their own aspirations and dreams with their duties to other people?
Required Reading:
Badaracco, Joseph L., Jr. Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership Through Literature. Boston: Harvard Business School Press (2006), pp. 75-97.
Badaracco, Joseph L., Jr. “Resisting the Seduction of Success,”
HBS Working Knowledge, April 17, 2006. Online access:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5296.html [2]

Session 5: Leadership & Accountability
What obligations do we owe as
agents? This session’s case concerns an ambitious young employee who is faced with a conflict between her duty as corporate manager and her personal values.
Required Reading:
Van Dissel, Bart J. Martha McCaskey. Harvard Business Case #9-403-114 (2004).

Session 6: Leadership & Character
In this session students begin to assess the following: what is character? How does character affect a person’s ability to meet the moral and practical demands of leading an organization or a community? What is a moral code or compass?
Required Reading:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann (1958).

Session 7: Leadership & Character In this session students examine character issues in both a business and political setting.
Required Reading:
George, William. Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the
Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass (2003), pp. 1-7, 11-25.
McCullough, David. Character Above All. Dallas: Simon &
Schuster (1995), “Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953,” pp. 39-59.

Session 8: Leadership & Character What does it mean to say that a leader has courage? Why is this important? Where does it come from? How is it related to individual character? How is it related to social change?
Required Reading:
Cohn, Jeffrey and Jay Moran. Why Are We Bad at Picking Good
Leaders: A Better Way to Evaluate Leadership Potential. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (2011), pp. 147-48, 151-66.
Beschloss, Michael. Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and
How They Changed America 1789-1989. New York: Simon
& Schuster (2007), pp. 289-90, 302-12, 322-24.
May, Rollo. The Courage to Create. New York: W.W. Norton & Company (1975), pp. 21-29.

Session 9: Leadership & Action
In this session students will begin to go beyond questions of accountability and character in order to see how leaders actually get things done and mobilize others. Students examine the questions: What is the best way for leaders to think about the issue of action? What will work in the world
as it is?
 Required Reading:
 Machiavelli, Niccolo. Chapters XIV, XVI-XVIII of The Prince.
Translated by W.K. Mariott (1905). Online access:
http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm [3]
Nye, Joseph S., Jr. “Soft Power, Hard Power and Leadership.” Transcript of Seminar Given at Harvard Kennedy School, November 6, 2006. Online access:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/netgov/files/talks/docs/11_06_06_seminar_Nye_HP_SP_Leadership.pdf [4]
Cohn, Jeffrey and Jay Moran. Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders?: A Better Way to Evaluate Leadership Potential. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (2011), pp. 98-109.

Session 10: Leadership & Action This session continues with an examination of how to get things done. What leadership approaches or styles work to effect change? What kind of interaction must take place between leader and follower? What kind of leader is King Juan Carlos of Spain?  After Franco’s death, what steps did King Juan Carlos take to successfully make the transition to democracy at an especially fragile time?  
   Required Reading:
"Spanish King Juan Carlos Celebrates his 70th Birthday.” Online access: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_14455.shtml [5]
Acuna, Ramon Luis. “Juan Carlos I: the democratic king,” in
UNESCO Courier (Nov 1995). Online access:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1995_Nov/ai_17963686/ [6]
Govan, Fiona. “King Juan Carlos of Spain’s Letters to His Son,” Telegraph (UK), March 28, 2008. Online access:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583175/King-Juan-Carlos-of-Spains-letters-to-his-son.html [7]
Preston, Paul. King Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from
Dictatorship to Democracy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2004), pp. 301, 312-15, 323-25, 329-30, 353-55, 363-64, 387-90, 397-99, 404-06, 422-24, 449-50, 469-70, 472-73, 481-88.

Session 11: Leadership & Action In this session we take a look at Winston Churchill’s war leadership--- what skills did he draw upon to effectively lead during that crisis? We also get a first look at the “adaptive” theory of leadership. What kind of diagnostic work must be done to assess reality and existing value conflicts? What is an adaptive challenge? How can leaders educate followers to stay on task and do the work that needs to be done to solve real problems?
Required Reading:
Gilbert, Martin (2003). Winston Churchill’s War Leadership.
New York: Vintage, pp. 37-49.
Heifetz, Ronald (2003). Leadership Without Easy Answers.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, “To Lead or Mislead,” pp. 30-40.
Stokes, Emily (2009). “The secret behind good leadership,” from FT.com (Financial Times), May 15, 2009. Online access: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b44ce45a-4027-11de-9ced-00144feabdc0.html [8]

Session 12: What is Culture and Why Does It Matter?
How should we think about differences in values and attitudes?
What opportunities and dangers do these differences pose?    
Required Reading:   
Harrison, Lawrence and Samuel Huntington, eds. Culture
Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. New York: Basic Books (2000), pp. xxiv-xxxii.
Huntington, Samuel. “The Clash of Civilizations?” in Foreign
Affairs, Volume 72: Number 3 (Spring 1993) pp. 22-29. Zakaria, Fareed. The Post-American World. New York: Norton (2008), pp. 1-5, 31-40.

Session 13: What is Culture and How is it Related to Leadership?
In this session, students continue to
explore the topic of culture, with an emphasis on how it relates to
leadership. Do some aspects of leadership transcend culture?
Required Reading:
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Novato, California: New World Library (2008), pp. 23-28.
Gardner, Howard. Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership (1995), pp. 41-43, 55-56.
Guber, Peter. “The Four Truths of the Storyteller,” Harvard Business Review (December 2007).

Session 14: Leadership & Cultural
Conflict in Business In this session, students consider a film that documents a mixed-race
entrepreneur’s failure to lead a local tribe in their joint-venture coffee plantation. The central challenge raised is how to meet common goals when overwhelming cultural differences are involved.
Required Reading:
Loyalka, Michelle Dammon. “The Art of Chinese
Relationships,” from Business Week Online, January 6, 2006. Access online:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2006/sb20060105_958312.htm [9]

Session 15: Leadership & Cultural
Conflict in Business In this session students examine how to bridge the gap between a French
manager’s leadership style and cultural background and his experience trying to run a business unit in the United States.
Required Reading:
Grove, Cornelius N. “Leadership Style Variations Across Cultures: Overview of GLOBE Research Findings.” Online Access: http://www.grovewell.com/pub-GLOBE- [10] leadership.html
“Leading Across Cultures at Michelin (A), (B), (C)” [(B) and (C) handed out in class]

Session 16: Leadership and Cultural
Conflict in Int’l RelationsHow did Gandhi mobilize the world, and particularly the British, toward
Indian independence? What skills did he rely on?
Required Reading:
Gardner, Howard. “Jean Monnet and Mahatma Gandhi: Leadership Beyond National Boundaries,” in Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership (1995), pp. 267-284.

Session 17: Leadership and Cultural Conflict in the Community
Many consider President Obama’s election to be the most striking
affirmation yet of Dr. King’s legacy. But Barack Obam a’s story is important in many other ways. As the son of an African farmer and a white mother from Kansas, he has had to reconcile conflicts within his own heritage. Each of these leaders offers key lessons about leadership in the context of cultural conflict.
Required Reading:
King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963. Online Access:
http://www.mlkonline.net/jail.html [11]
Obama, Barack. Dreams from My Father: The Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Crown Publishing (2004) pp. 63-66, 70-71, 74-85, 92-100, 110-112, 327-331, 426-430, 437-439.

Session 18: Getting Involved & Getting Started
Throughout the semester, students are urged to consider how the study
of leadership is relevant to their lives. This session focuses on some
practical leadership tips aimed particularly at young people.
Required Reading:
Bennis, Warren. “Knowing Yourself,” in On Becoming a
Leader. Reading, PA: Addison Wesley (1994), pp. 53-71. Welch, Jack. “Getting out of the Pile,” from Jack: Straight from the Gut. New York: Warner Books (2001), pp. 21-25.

Session 19: Unleashing the Inner Fire
  Required Reading:  
Cohn, Jeffrey and Jay Moran. Why Are We Bad at Picking Good
Leaders: A Better Way to Evaluate Leadership Potential. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (2011), pp. 173-90.
Robinson, Ken. (2009). The Element: How Finding Your
Passion Changes Everything. New York: Viking, pp. 1-26.

Session 20: Gaining Professional Capacity
  Required Reading:
  Colvin, Geoff (2008). “The Mystery” in Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers from Everybody Else. New York: Portfolio (2008), pp. 1-16.
Gladwell, Malcolm (2008). “The 10,000-Hour Rule,” in
Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little Brown and Company (2008), pp. 35-55.

Session 21: Leading without Authority How do individuals who lack authority or a visible office exercise leadership?
   Required Reading:  
Heiftetz, Ronald. Leadership Without Easy Answers.
Cambridge: Belknap (1994), pp. 183-206.
Badaracco, Joseph L., Jr. (2001). “We Don’t Need Another
Hero.” Harvard Business Review Reprint R0108H (September 2001).

Session 22: Women & Leadership
This session offers special attention to women and leadership.     
Required Reading:    
Wright, Robert (1994). The Moral Animal. New York: Pantheon Books (1994), pp. 246-249.
Fels, Anna (2004). “Do Women Lack Ambition?” Harvard
Business Review, Reprint #R0404B (April 2004). “Men or Women: Who’s the Better Leader” (2008). Pew
Research Center Study, August 25, 2008. Available:
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/708/gender-leadership [12]
Kellerman, Barbara and Rhode, Deborah I. (2007). Women & Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 1-26.

Session 23: Inspiration Field Trip
 Required Reading:  
 Noonan, Peggy. On Speaking Well. New York: ReganBooks
(1999), Introduction and pp. 3-25.

Session 24: The Leadership Journey   
    Required Reading: 
George, William (2007). True North: Discover Your Authentic
Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 3-8, 10-14. Bennis, Warren. “Knowing the World,” from On Becoming a Leader. Reading, PA: Addison Wesley (1994), pp. 84-100. Oliver, Mary. “The Journey,” in Dream Work. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press (1986), pp. 38-39.

Final Exam