Leading: Lessons from Literature

Ian Richardson (Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, UK)

Journal of Management Development

ISSN: 0262-1711

Article publication date: 1 April 2006

219

Keywords

Citation

Richardson, I. (2006), "Leading: Lessons from Literature", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 409-410. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710610655855

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Leading: Lessons from Literature attempts to shed new light on some of the most long‐standing questions related to leadership by adopting a multi‐disciplinary perspective that incorporates management science, literature, philosophy, drama, mythology, and experiential knowledge from notable business leaders. The book is designed to be enjoyed by scholars and practitioners alike as well as anyone interested in the subject of leadership. It is aimed at developing the intellectual and emotional maturity of individuals and, as such, does not represent a formally structured leadership text; instead, it is intended to be appreciated as “extra‐mural” reading.

The author begins by making it clear that leadership is a largely subjective phenomenon and, while the views of others might provide some insight, the reader is encouraged to search for his or her own view of the subject. A deeper understanding of leadership requires, in the authors view, a serious effort which includes the cultivation of reading habits and literary preference as well as the ability to select and interpret sources in order to relate them to the issue. Singh contends that reality is complex ‐ full of ambiguities and contradictions – and that, much of the time, human action cannot meet the test of rationality it represents; only studies of art, literature, and philosophy, can help individuals to understand the irrationalities of life and, in essence, this book is the authors own attempt to make sense of the challenge.

It is clear from the outset that Singh considers quality of leadership to be a fundamental problem facing business in the twenty‐first century. He views part of the problem to be that of the general movement of society away from the poetic to the prosaic, from the emotional to the rational. Leadership development requires better conceptual knowledge and understanding in order to make sense of the world and arrive at ones own “authentic version of leadership roles”. He draws a distinction between a contemporary preoccupation with “how to do it” approaches to leadership which emphasize knowledge, technology, and skills development; and “how to look at it” perspectives of leadership which emphasize values, wisdom, and insight. An almost exclusive professional focus on the former may have led to an increase in the number of leaders but leadership itself is losing its meaning.

The sixteen chapters of the book are broken down into five core thematic parts. The first looks at the subject of leadership and considers perspectives from historical and contemporary sources. The distinguishing features of leadership and management are contrasted, with the author claiming that management development, as currently constituted, de‐emphasizes the central importance of leadership. The second thematic area continues with the distinction between management education and leadership and further considers the limitations of rational scientific approaches to the study of the latter. The author believes that literature is not limited by its method and, as such, presents a more realistic view of life and values. In his words, “a purely scientific design of culture is neither possible nor desirable”. In short, this section of the book contends that management education must incorporate courses that address the leadership mindset as well as knowledge and skills centered training.

Part three of the book is focused on leadership mindset orientation and takes the position that the conditioned minds of managers must be deprogrammed in order that the individual can learn to see things as they are; rather than as constructs of their conditioned minds. In addition, the role of emotion is emphasized and its relationship with reason is seen as critical to effective leadership. Part four is focused on issues of authenticity, falseness and trust and considers the issues of responsibility and ethics and, finally, part five expands, at some length and with numerous examples, on the notion of the role of leadership.

In some senses, Leading: Lessons from Literature suffers through the sheer scale of its ambition. By seeking to draw from an enormous wealth of literature, philosophy, mythology and experiential evidence, and then present some kind of palatable synthesis, the author has inevitably raised many questions related to selection and interpretation methods. He concedes that it was not easy to be comprehensive and that it was necessary to be disciplined in his selection of material but no explanation of how these issues were managed is offered. Instead, the reader is told that experience has played a critical part in the interpretation and selection of material but this is somewhat unsatisfying as an explanation. It raises as many questions about the huge wealth of material that was overlooked – much of it clearly relevant for the purposes of such a book – as it satisfies through selective use of referenced material.

In addition to an inherent subjectivity, the book is also painfully unfocussed at times. In fairness, the author points out that the work is not designed to be consumed in one reading; it will need to be revisited to fully appreciate its contribution. After several sittings, however, I must confess to having become frustrated with the experience. Singh makes many valuable points but they are frequently immersed in needless explanations, rambling narrative, broad and unsupported statements, and repetition. Having set out to address many fundamental leadership questions with this approach, the author has covered a huge amount of literary ground in search of lessons. To some extent he has succeeded in presenting a strong case for an alternative approach; however, Leading: Lessons from Literature is less convincing in overall terms than it might otherwise have been.

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