Leadership: Essential Writings by Our Greatest Thinkers

by Elizabeth D. Samet (Editor)

A Norton Anthology that illuminates how literature can help build ethically responsible leaders. What is the connection between literature and leadership? Are leaders born or are they made? Elizabeth D. Samet, the author of the award-winning Soldier’s Heart and a professor of English at West Point, brings to this anthology her profound experiences as a teacher of soldiers, her discerning ear for excellent writing, and her belief in the vital role of the humanities in cultivating leaders. Great writers and thinkers in conversation ―that is what makes Samet’s approach distinctive. Samet organizes the writings around the essence of leadership―the insights, skills, and actions that effective leaders, with time and experience, learn to live by. What are these insights, skills, and actions? Newcomers to any organization must first study the system, then find and emulate models, risk change, cultivate trust, negotiate, take responsibility, learn from failure, learn to resist, innovate, discipline desire, and eventually let go. These ideas, brought to life in selections written by or about unforgettable leaders―be they heroic, quixotic, or villainous―shape the book. Machiavelli, Macbeth, and Milosz, Ghandi and Gawande, Douglass and Didion are just a sampling of the 102 writers and works included. Readers of Leadership will enjoy its sheer variety at the same time that they enter a thought-provoking, often moving conversation that is both ancient and crucially current.

Genres: Leadership, Nonfiction, Business

752 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2014

About the author

Elizabeth D. Samet received her BA from Harvard and her PhD in English literature from Yale. She is the author of Willing Obedience: Citizens, Soldiers, and the Progress of Consent in America, 1776–1898 and Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature through Peace and War at West Point. Samet has been an English professor at West Point for ten years.

Reviews

[Your favorite troll · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about other books. Would recommend.

[Dawne · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the book is billed to leaders, it's an astoundingly rich collection of world literature that gives all mortals (especially writers) a way of framing human experience as decision-making, as living with consequences, and as failure. The meditations on how the self navigates these complexities are wonderful as are the end of chapter questions.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal collection of writings on various subjects that, in Samet's curation, illuminate various aspects of leadership. The selections range from ancient China to modern pieces from current writers; it's inevitable in a collection like this that some pieces strike one with more force than others. In order to make full use of a book like this you'd be best served by having an hypothesis about leadership that you were exploring. The wide range of material would thus give you many cultural touchpoints and perspectives to bounce off your hypothesis. Otherwise the categories that Samet provides may seem a bit abstract for readers trying to sharpen their own leadership styles or merely muse on various leadership decisions over many years and many cultures.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s pretty much what it says on the cover: a textbook full of short readings, some fictional and some not, that work off the themes where each chapter highlights a need that a good leader should possess. I was exposed to a number of interesting readings I had never read before and appreciated the book very much for that.

[Kasen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this in a bookstore years ago, and when I saw on the first page that it mentioned "The Wire"—my favorite show—I decided to finally give it a read. I was not disappointed, the collection of short excerpts and poems was entertaining and informative. If a piece didn't catch my attention, I could flip forward a few pages and read something else on the same topic. Highly recommend.

[Alex Rye · Rating 3 out of 5]

went through a good amount of this anthology for my leaders in literature course. while i don’t find leadership studies particularly interesting, i do appreciate the choice of literary excerpts samet brings together.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology was really broad in scope covering a number of leadership topics like finding your way and cultivating trust. What I really enjoyed is that the selected authors were not your typical "leadership" experts. For example, the excerpt from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade is used as an example of a leader taking responsibility for their actions.

This is a well curated collection and there are some really thoughtful pieces that could be used to spark conversations in a team.

[Mark Hertling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully enlightening compilation of leadership writings. Thought-provoking, insightful, and from myriad genres. A must for anyone studying leadership.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding selection of leadership readings.

[Jay Dewey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though my intention was to read all these essays from start to finish -- and I did begin this voyage until -- well until I didn't. I now have it among my reference books for further exploration.