Inspirational Leadership: Henry V and the muse of fire

Citation

Ingram, H. (2003), "Inspirational Leadership: Henry V and the muse of fire", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 59-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm.2003.15.1.59.1

For many filmgoers, the mental image of the actor Laurence Olivier comes to mind when Shakespeare’s play Henry V comes up in conversation. The play records a famous victory over the French at the battle of Agincourt and offers a portrait of Henry’s heroic leadership as king and man. Olivier’s 1944 film gave heart to war‐torn England with his bright‐eyed call of “Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George!” What better person to reveal insights about leadership from this play than the son of this famous actor, Richard Olivier.

In his book, Richard Olivier introduces the reader to “mythodrama”, a cross‐disciplinary method that combines theatre with mythology, psychology and management studies. Olivier contends that “these four elements provide a creative and safe mirror in which participants can see their own leadership dilemma reflected”. He has led management workshops at London’s Globe Theatre and this book synthesises his experiences and explains the benefits of mythodrama. The book assumes no prior knowledge of the play, but explains the story before every act, then comments upon the messages for leadership that emerge from the text.

What are these messages? Olivier contends that Henry V is Shakespeare’s greatest leader: inspirational, visionary, pragmatic, powerful and responsible. Each of the five acts has an important leadership theme: from vision to commitment: traitors and other bad habits: into battle: first footholds, first setbacks: the “dark night of the soul”: and turning the battlefield into a garden. In the epilogue, Olivier enjoins the reader to “live our lives as “greatly’ as possible”, in the sense of doing our best to make the world a better place. He contends that, as managers, rather like kings, we are in the “service of something greater than ourselves”. While the world of work is ever changing, the nature of inspirational leadership stays the same, and managers should seek to learn from the past. Just as, in the play, the Chorus asks for “a muse of fire” that is a plea to the audience to engage actively with the actors, so Olivier dares students of leadership to use their imaginative and creative faculties to challenge their thinking.

In summary, Olivier has managed to capture the energy of this inspirational Shakespeare into words and bring to bear his unique insights as they can apply to leadership to‐day. There are some valuable lessons to be learned from this book by those who are prepared to look outside the narrow management literature and into Shakespeare’s timeless mirror.