Case Studies in Leadership Through Literature and Film, Harvard University

Today's business leaders must possess so many qualities and deal with such challenging situations that no group of academic studies can account for them all. This course is based on the premise that case studies using the creative vehicles of literature and film can help managers understand the modern complexities of leadership. It focuses on the qualities, subtleties, ambiguities, and dilemmas of leadership as they appear in in the eyes of some of the keenest observers of human nature, namely, creative artists. Students are asked to share their personal management experiences as they relate to the readings. When appropriate, references to academic studies and theories of leadership are also made. Included are films dealing with Howard Hughes (The Aviator) and Gandhi (Gandhi), and the following works of literature: Antigone (Sophocles), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare), Billy Budd (Melville), In the Penal Colony (Kafka), The Guest (Camus), A Doll's House (Ibsen), Things Fall Apart (Achebe), and The Age of Innocence (Wharton). This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.