The Moral Leader: Challenges, Tools and Insights

262 Pages·2007·1.4 MB·English

by  Sandra J. Sucher

1EEE The Moral Leader
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5EEEE Successful leaders – at any level and in any arena – are inevitably presented with
6 moral and ethical choices. This unique and innovative textbook is designed to
7 encourage students and managers to confront those fundamental moral challenges,
8 to develop skills in moral analysis and judgment, and to come to terms with their
9 own definition of moral leadership and how it can be translated into action. Drawing
20 on the inspiration of major literary and historical figures such as Machiavelli, Conrad,
1 Shackleton, and Achebe, and based upon an impressive array of literary sources,
2 including novels, plays, history and biography, the book centers on four questions
3 implicitly asked of all leaders:
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5EEE • What is the nature of a moral challenge?
6 • How do people “reason morally”?
7 • How do leaders contend with the moral choices they face?
8 • How is moral leadership different from leadership in general?
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30 The Moral Leaderis based upon the renowned course of the same name taught at
1 Harvard Business School for over two decades. With an emphasis on decision-
2 making and action, students learn to identify moral problems, to address them
3 systematically, and to develop skills that aid them throughout their studies and their
4 professional lives. At times challenging, insightful, and always illuminating, this
5 book is essential reading for all serious students of leadership, management, business
6 ethics, or policy.
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8 Sandra J. Sucheris Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School where she teaches
9 “The Moral Leader” and “Leadership and Corporate Accountability” in the MBA
40 curriculum. See Sucher’s comprehensive companion text for educators, “Teaching
1 The Moral Leader: A guide for instructors,” also available from Routledge.
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The Moral
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Leader
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Challenges, Insights,
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4 and Tools
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Sandra J. Sucher
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First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2008 Sandra J. Sucher
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Sucher, Sandra J.
The moral leader: challenges, insights, and tools/Sandra J. Sucher
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Leadership – Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Business ethics. I. Title.
HD57.7.S835 2007
174(cid:118).4 – dc22 2007006494
ISBN 0–203–94064–4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–40063–5 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–40064–3 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–94064–4 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–40063–3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–40064–0 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–94064–8 (ebk)
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5EEEE To students of “The Moral Leader” course,
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4 Contents
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5EEEE Acknowledgments ix
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7 Introduction 1
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1 Overview of “The Moral Leader” 3
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Preparation 9
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2 Guide to Literature-based Learning 11
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Module I: Moral Challenge 19
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9 Moral Challenge Module Map 19
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1 3 Moral Challenge Preview 21
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4 Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage 28
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4 5 Antigone 38
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6 BlessedAssurance 47
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7 7 ThingsFallApart 57
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Moral Reasoning Module Map 71
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5EEEE 9 Trifles 79
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CONTENTS
10 The Sweet Hereafter 87
11 The Remains of the Day 97
12 A Man for All Seasons 109
Module III: Moral Leadership 121
Moral Leadership Module Map 121
13 Moral Leadership Preview 123
14 The Prince 128
15 The Secret Sharer 137
16 Truman and the Bomb 148
17 Katharine Graham: Personal History 159
18 American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center 171
Appendix 1 “Moral Theories” 181
Appendix 2 Truman and the Bomb 213
Appendix 3 “Pentagon Papers” 230
Appendix 4 Bibliography on Moral Leadership 240
Index 244
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Acknowledgments
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5EEEE “The Moral Leader,” a literature-based course on leadership, has a storied past of
6 its own, and I am grateful to all who have contributed to it. Brought to Harvard
7 Business School in the 1980s by Robert Coles, psychiatrist and educator, the business
8 school was just one of Coles’ stops, which included the Harvard schools of medicine,
9 law, architecture, politics, divinity, education, and design.1In each of these settings,
20 Coles demonstrated the value of using literature to explore moral decision-making
1 and leadership. His views on moral leadership are recorded in many of his books;
2 those interested in the origins of “The Moral Leader” course will particularly enjoy
3 The Call of Stories:Teaching and the Moral Imagination, Coles’ description of how
4 he came to a literature-based approach and how it influenced him and those
5EEE fortunate enough to have been his students. Lives of Moral Leadership: Men and
6 Women Who Have Made a Difference,2also by Coles, presents profiles of individuals
7 he considers to be moral leaders; it, too, sheds light on how moral leadership can
8 be defined and, more important, how it is lived.
9 Following Coles were a small cadre of HBS instructors, all committed to learning
30 through literature, who contributed to the course. Scotty McLennan, presently
1 Dean of Religious Life at Stanford University, developed his own version, as did
2 Mary Gentile, now a thoughtful and creative advisor on business ethics and ethics
3 education who openheartedly involved herself in this project since I first outlined
4 it to her, providing advice that helped shape my views on how to make “The Moral
5 Leader” accessible to students and instructors alike.
6 My immediate predecessor in the course is Joe Badaracco, who has generously
7 served as a mentor, sharing his complete teaching files, allowing me to watch an
8 entire semester of the course being taught, and encouraging me in the development
9 of my own course and the texts that describe it. Joe has reflected on literature he
40 finds valuable to leaders in Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of
1 Leadership through Literature.3 He extracts realistic, imaginative, practical, and by
2 no means obvious lessons from the stories he writes about, perfectly illustrating
3 what it looks like to study literature for the useful and powerful lessons it can
4 provide to leaders of all stripes.
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