Power and Glory in Turbulent Times:

The History of Leadership from Henry V

to Mark Zuckerberg
Spring 2013

Professor Nancy F. Koehn

Assistant:
Vanessa Thompson
Rock Center 316A
Harvard Business School
617-495-6202
vthompson@hbs.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course examines the effectiveness of individual leaders who lived and worked in moments of great
turbulence. The course aims to understand the choices they made, including the strategies they used, the
values they lived by, and the tradeoffs they accepted as they created widespread power in companies,
communities, and nations. It also focuses on the impact, immediate and long-term, that each of these
individuals had, and how this impact was related to their animating missions. Particular attention is paid to
what it means to lead forcefully in times of ongoing turmoil and to the relevant lessons that these leaders
offer for our own moment, in the early 21st century. Finally, the course strives to draw credible inspiration
from these individuals and the contexts in which they acted.
This course offers students the opportunity to explore the lives of a range of men and womenfrom
business, government, and other realmsduring widespread disruption. It covers the individual journeys of
these people, the changes in the nature of the organizations they led, and the dynamic environments in which
they each lived and worked. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to examine the choices each
leader made, the path he or she traveled, the values and objectives he or she nurtured, and the larger stage on
which that person acted. This perspective provides a broad understanding of the long-term impact of
leadership and innovation on business, government, and society. In looking closely at the agency of other
individuals who have exerted lasting influence, students are challenged to consider their own agency, along
with their ambitions and ideas about leadership.
The course will draw on a range of materials from the humanities and social sciences, including case studies,
articles, book chapters, plays, and multimedia offerings.
There is a significant writing component to the course. Students are required to write five short critical essays
during the term and one longer integrative essay due right before exam period. Regular, detailed feedback is
provided on all these papers, providing students an important opportunity to hone their critical writing skills.
Class attendance is mandatory and will be a component of each students final grade.
The leaders studied are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Henry V
Winston Churchill
Josiah Wedgwood
Alexander Hamilton
Frederick Douglass
Abraham Lincoln
H.J. Heinz
John D. Rockefeller
Madam C.J. Walker
Milton Hershey
Este Lauder
Gloria Steinem
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
2

14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rachel Carson
Gary Hirshberg
William Tyndale
Robert Moses
Katherine Graham
Oprah Winfrey
Bono
Howard Schultz
Steve Jobs
Mark Zuckerberg
Ernest Shackleton

Core Questions:
1.

How did leaders create the authority they wielded? How did they acknowledge and exercise the
responsibilities that accompanied such authority?

2.

Towards what end did these leaders work? How did they come to terms with their work?

3.

The American philosopher Mortimer Adler, drawing on Aristotle, noted that a good leader must
have three qualities: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Logos is a capacity to move the minds of people and to
give consistent, unwavering motivation for action. Pathos is the ability to affect the emotional hearts
of people. Ethos is ones moral core and the base from which a speaker persuades others. How did
each individual leader evidence these qualities and to what extent?

4.

David Foster Wallace, the American novelist, once wrote that true leaders are people "who help us
overcome the limitations of our own laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do
better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own." How has this concept of
leadership changed over time? What have we learned from these shifts?

5.

To what extent have these leaders been driven by ethical values? How have they come to terms with
themselves and with the missions of their organizations? How important was a clean business or
organization to them?

6.

How do we learn from effective leadersboth those with whom we have direct experience and
those whom we know indirectlythrough reputation or impact?

7.

What qualities are most important for effective leaders, here and now?

Power and Glory in Turbulent Times

Outline of the Course

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

Tuesday, January 29
Tuesday, February 5
Tuesday, February 12
Tuesday, February 19
Tuesday, February 26
Tuesday, March 5
Tuesday, March 12
Tuesday, March 19
Tuesday, March 26
Tuesday, April 2
Tuesday, April 9
Tuesday, April 16
Tuesday, April 23
Tuesday, April 30

Warrior Kings
Path Breakers to the Modern World
Servants to a Mighty Cause
Market Leaders
Passing it Forward
Breaking Through Boundaries
The Cost of Commitment
Spring Break: No Class
Stewards of Sustainability
Unleashing the Power of Knowledge
My Life is My Message
Entrepreneurial Success and Social Impact
Power and Responsibility in Turbulent Times
The Quest for Fame

Power and Glory in Turbulent Times

Spring 2013
List of Materials
Books:
William Shakespeare, Henry V, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen (New York: Modern Library,
2010).
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself
(New York: Penguin Classics, 1986).
Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from Wedgwood to Dell
(Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001).
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002). Optional purchase.

Cases:
The Strategic Vision of Alexander Hamilton

795-075

Slavery

792-001

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

805-115

John D. Rockefeller and the Creation of Standard Oil

807-110

Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur, Leader, and Philanthropist

807-145

Candy Land: The Utopian Vision of Milton Hershey

805-066

Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm

811-096

Oprah Winfrey

809-068

Bono and U2

809-148

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal

313-093

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

803-127

Online Supplied Readings:

Roy Jenkins, Winston Churchill. A Biography (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), Chapter 33:
The Battle of Britain and the Beginning of the Blitz, pp. 630-646.
John Keegan, Winston Churchill. A Penguin Life (New York: Penguin, 2002), Chapter 2: Family and
Youth, pp. 18-34; Chapter 7: The Coming of War, 1933-1940, pp. 111-129; Chapter 8: A Prime
Minister Alone, 1940-1941, pp. 130-150, pp. 184-192 (Located at the end of Chapter 10: Apotheosis).
Selection of Churchills Speeches, taken from Graham Stewart. His Finest Hours: The War Speeches of
Winston Churchill (London: Quercus, 2007), pp. 10-14, pp. 37-40, pp. 42-45, pp. 46-59, pp. 70-77.
Frederick Douglass, Autobiographies. (New York: Library of America, 1994). From Autobiography #2 (My
Bondage and My Freedom): The Last Flogging, pp. 286-287; Introduced to the Abolitionists, pp. 364369; 21 Months in Great Britain, pp. 372-375. From Autobiography #3 (Life and Times): Secession and
War, pp. 775-780; The Black Man at the White House, pp. 784-788, pp. 793-798, pp. 912-914.
Selection of Frederick Douglasss Speeches, taken from Philip S. Foner, The Life and Writings of Frederick
Douglass (New York: International Publishers, 1955), What the Black Man Wants, pp. 157-165. Also taken
from The Frederick Douglass Papers, edited by John W. Blassingame (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1979), What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? pp. 359-361; The Present, pp. 366-371; The Church
Responsible, pp. 377-381.
Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995),
Life Between the Lines, pp. 3-31.
Nancy Hass, Gloria Steinem Still Wants More. Newsweek (August 7, 2011). Accessed at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/07/gloria-steinem-the-future-of-the-fight-for-women-srights.html.
Gloria Steinem, Statement of Gloria Steinem, Writer and Critic. Source: Congress, Senate, Committee on
the Judiciary, The Equal Rights Amendment: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the
Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 2d sess. (May 5, 6, and 7, 1970). Accessed at:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7025.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, edited by
Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), Editors Introduction:
Solidarity with the Oppressed: Bonhoeffer the Man, pp. 3-46; Christ and Peace (Fall, 1932), pp. 98-101;
The Church is Dead (August 29, 1932), pp. 108-111; [Editors Introduction]: The Church Struggle and
Nazi Racial Policies, pp. 133- 135; The Bethel Confession (August 1933), pp. 141-144.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, edited by Eberhard Bethge (New York: Macmillan,
1972), Prologue: After Ten Years: A Reckoning Made at New Year 1943, pp. 3-17; Letter to his parents
(September 5, 1943), pp. 104-106; Excerpt from Letter commemorating baptism of Eberhard Bethges son
(May 1944), pp. 296-299; Letter to Eberhard Bethge (July 21, 1944), pp. 369-370.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., entry from Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American
Experience, Second Edition, edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Oxford African
American Studies Center. Accessed at: http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0002/e2213
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (February 4, 1958).
Accessed at: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_580204_005/
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963). Accessed at: http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf
Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream (Speech delivered August 28, 1963). Accessed at:
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/mlkdream.html
Video (17:28): Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream (Speech delivered August 28, 1963). Accessed
at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike (1968), entry from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia.
Authored and edited by Clayborn Carson, Tenisha Armstrong, Susan Carson, Erin Cook, and Susan
Englander (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008). Accessed at: http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_memphis_sanitation_workers_strike_1968/
Martin Luther King, Jr., I've Been to the Mountaintop (Speech delivered April 3, 1968 at Mason
Temple/Church of God in Christ Headquarters, Memphis, Tennessee). Accessed
at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1988), pp. 264-286; pp. 299-302; pp. 700-711; pp. 725-730.
Video (4:47): Robert Kennedy, Robert Kennedy Announces the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., Indianapolis, IN (April 4, 1968). Accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6mxL2cqxrA
Rachel Carson, Letter to Dorothy Freeman (September 1963), reprinted in Lost Woods: The Discovered
Writings of Rachel Carson, edited by Linda Lear (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998), pp. 246-247.
Nancy F. Koehn, From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change, New York Times (October 27, 2012). Accessed
at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/business/rachel-carsons-lessons-50-years-after-silentspring.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Jonathan Norton Leonard, Rachel Carson Dies of Cancer; Silent Spring Author was 56, New York Times
(April 15, 1964). Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/05/reviews/carson-obit.html
George Timothy, The Translators Tale: Celebrating the five-hundredth birthday of William Tyndale, the
father of the English Bible, Christianity Today (October 24, 1994), pp. 36-38.
Christmas SpecialsWilliam Tyndale: A hero for the information age, The Economist (December 20, 2008).

William Tyndale, Tyndale's New Testament, translated by William Tyndale and edited by David Daniell (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), The Introduction, pp. viixxxiii; W. T., Unto the Reader and
William Tyndale, yet once more to the Christian Reader, pp. 3-16 inclusive; "The Glossary," pp. 23-26;
Chapters 1-14 of "The Gospel of St. Matthew," pp. 21-40.
William Tyndales First Five Books of Moses, Called the Pentateuch, translated in part by William Tyndale
and compiled by J.I. Mombert (New York: Anson D.F. Randolph and Co., 1884), W.T. To The Reader, pp.
2-6; Chapters 1-4 of Genesis, pp. 15-25.
Bruce Watson, A Freedom Summer Activist Becomes a Math Revolutionary (Robert Moses), Smithsonian
26, no. 11 (February 1, 1996), pp. 114-117.
Robert P. Moses, Quality Education as a Constitutional Right, edited by Theresa Perry, Robert P. Moses,
Joan T. Wynne, Ernesto Cortes, Jr., and Lisa Delpit (Boston: Beacon, 2010), Constitutional Property vs.
Constitutional People, pp. 70-92.
Robert P. Moses, Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights (Boston: Beacon, 2001), Chapter 1,
Algebra and Civil Rights? pp. 3-22; Chapter 3, Standin at the Crossroads, pp. 58-87; Chapter 5,
Pedagogy, pp. 114-133.
Katharine Graham, A Vigilant Press: Its Job To Inform, Speech Delivered at Colby College (March 20,
1974), printed in Vital Speeches of the Day 40:15, pp. 460-462.
Katharine Graham, Personal History (New York: Random House, 1997), pp. 432-508.
Nora Ephron, Paper Route, New York Times (February 9, 1997).
Video (watch the first 14:40): Katharine Graham interviewed by Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose (February 5, 1997).
Accessed at: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/5721
Evan Thomas, An American Original: Katharine Graham, 1917-2001, Newsweek 138, no. 5 (July 30,
2001). Accessed at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2001/07/29/an-american-original.html
Katharine Graham, 1917-2001, Washington Post (July 18, 2001). Accessed at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000789.html
Nancy Franklin, Oprah Winfreys New Cable Channel, The New Yorker 84, no. 5 (January 24, 2011), pp.7274. Accessed at:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2011/01/24/110124crte_television_franklin?currentPag
e=all
Meg James and Joe Flint, Oprahs Success Hasnt Followed Her to OWN, Los Angeles Times (March 31,
2012). Home Edition. Accessed at: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-oprah20120331,0,5382925.story?page=2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MHC_Today%3A_4.5.12_4_4_11
2&utm_source=Fire%20Engine%20RED
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), pp. 1-85; pp. 327-339; pp. 358-367; and
pp. 538-558.
8

Nancy F. Koehn, Steve Jobss Legacy, Fortune 60, no. 10 (November 23, 2009). Accessed at:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/03/technology/steve_jobs_legacy.fortune/index.htm
John Markoff, Apple's Visionary Redefined Digital Age, New York Times (October 5, 2011). Accessed at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at56.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
Video (15:00): Steve Jobs, How to Live Before You Die, Stanford University Commencement Address
(June 14, 2005). Accessed at: http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html
Optional information on Mr. Jobs:
Steven Levy, Steve Jobs, 1954-2011, Wired Epicenter (October 6, 2011). Accessed at:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/jobs/all/1.
Video clips (3:12) of Steve Jobs introducing his products since 1977, part of a tribute to Steve Jobs, on Wired
Epicenter. Accessed at: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/jobs/all/1
Jose Antonio Vargas, The Face of Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up, The New Yorker 86, no. 28
(September 20, 2010), pp. 54-64. Accessed at:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas?printable=true
Lev Grossman, Mark Zuckerberg: Person of the Year 2010, Time (December 15, 2010). Accessed at:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183_2037185,00.html
Miguel Helft and Jessi Hempel, Inside Facebook, Fortune 165, no. 4 (March 19, 2012).
Floating Facebook: The Value of Friendship, The Economist (February 4, 2012), pp. 23-26. Accessed at:
http://www.economist.com/node/21546020.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Form S-1 Registration Statement, Facebook, Inc.
(February 1, 2012), pp. 1-6, pp. 11-14; pp. 15-33; Mark Zuckerbergs Letter [to Potential Investors] on pp. 6770; pp. 71-81. Accessed at:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htm#toc287954_10
Nancy F. Koehn, Leadership Lessons From the Shackleton Expedition, New York Times (December 24,
2011). Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-theshackleton-expedition.html?pagewanted=all
Transcript of Robert F. Kennedy at University of Cape Town, South Africa N.U.S.A.S. "Day of Affirmation"
Speech, (June 6th, 1966). Accessed at: http://rfksafilm.org/html/speeches/unicape.php

Power and Glory in Turbulent Times

Spring 2013

I. Tuesday, January 29
LEADERS:

Warrior Kings

Henry V
Winston Churchill

READINGS: William Shakespeare, Henry V, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen (New York:
Modern Library, 2010).
Roy Jenkins, Winston Churchill. A Biography (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001).
Read: Chapter 33: The Battle of Britain and the Beginning of the Blitz, pp. 630-646. [In
the Course Packet].
John Keegan, Winston Churchill. A Penguin Life (New York: Penguin, 2002). Read:
Chapter 2: Family and Youth, pp. 18-34; Chapter 7: The Coming of War, 1933-1940,
pp. 111-129; Chapter 8: A Prime Minister Alone, 1940-1941, pp. 130-150, pp. 184-192
(Located at the end of Chapter 10: Apotheosis). [In the Course Packet].
Selection of Churchills Speeches, taken from Graham Stewart. His Finest Hours: The War
Speeches of Winston Churchill (London: Quercus, 2007). [In the Course Packet].
1. Pages 10-14: A hush over Europe, Broadcast to the American People
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

(August 8,

1939).
Pages 37-40: Blood, toil, tears and sweat, House of Commons (May 13, 1940).
Pages 42-45: Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, World Broadcast (May 19,
1940).
Pages 46-52: Fight them on the beaches, On Dunkirk and the spirit of resistance,
House of Commons (June 4, 1940).
Pages 53-59: Their finest hour, On preparations for a Battle of Britain: House of
Commons (Later broadcast on June 18, 1940).
Pages 70-77: Never in the field of human conflict, House of Commons (August 20,
1940).

Professors Note: William Shakespeare wrote Henry V in the late 1590s. It forms part of a series of history plays (along

with Richard II and Henry IV, parts I and II) about the civil unrest of the Wars of the Roses. Henry V and the other plays in
this series deal with the first two decades of the struggle: from 1399 to about 1415 (another series of history plays, which includes
Henry VI, parts I, II and III, and Richard III, take up the remaining decades of the struggle: from about 1422 to 1485). In
Henry V, Shakespeare explores the making of a warrior king and the larger stage on which he acts, contrasting his actions and
motivations as ruler with those of his younger, wilder days as the prodigal son and heir of Henry IV. The playwright also
examines the source and maintenance of Henry Vs authority in the midst of upheaval at home and abroad.

10

Discussion Questions:
1.

How did both Henry V and Churchill create the authority they wielded? How did they acknowledge
and exercise the responsibilities that accompanied such authority?

2.

How do leaders evidence logos, or the capacity to move the minds of people and give consistent
motivation for action? How did Churchill and Henry V move the British people to resolute action?
How did they convince others to accept great personal risk?

3.

Churchill, as early as his teens, felt impatient to enter the greater stage of politics. As one Churchill
biographer, Roy Jenkins, put it, he was never one to confine his eyes to the narrow ground beneath
his feet. He always looked up to the high trees. How important is this ability to see the larger
picture and envision oneself within it? What, if any, costs are entailed in such a line of sight (and
the personal ambition accompanying it)?

4.

If war is a crucible that tests individual purpose and character, how does it help us understand a
leaders best qualities? How are leaders themselves shaped by the crisis of war? Are wartime leaders
potentially less effective in peacetime?

II. Tuesday, February 5

LEADERS:

Path Breakers to the Modern World

Josiah Wedgwood
Alexander Hamilton

READINGS: Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from
Wedgwood to Dell (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001). Read: Chapter 2: Josiah
Wedgwood, 1730-1975, pp. 11-42.
The Strategic Vision of Alexander Hamilton 795-075
Discussion Questions:
1. A managerial scholar has defined entrepreneurship as the relentless pursuit of opportunity without

regard to the resources currently controlled. With this definition in mind, was Wedgwood an
entrepreneur? If so, what opportunities did he pursue?
2. What were the key drivers of Josiah Wedgwoods success?
3. As Thomas McCraw writes, Hamilton always thought strategically. He dwelled on the big picture.

What did it mean to think continentally in the case of Hamilton?

4. What was the essence of Hamiltons vision? What did Hamilton see that Jefferson did not and why is

the difference in these two visions important?

11

5. Consider the lack of a template for a new nation, in Hamiltons case, and for a mass market in

Wedgwoods. In the absence of any template, how did these two leaders create an economic (and
larger) strategy?

III. Tuesday, February 12

LEADERS:

Servants to a Mighty Cause

Frederick Douglass
Abraham Lincoln

READINGS: Slavery 792-001

Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 805-115
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written
by Himself (New York: Penguin Classics, 1986). Read: pp. 47- end.
Frederick Douglass, Autobiographies (New York: Library of America, 1994). Read: From
Autobiography #2 (My Bondage and My Freedom): The Last Flogging, pp. 286-287;
Introduced to the Abolitionists, pp. 364-369; 21 Months in Great Britain, pp. 372-375.
From Autobiography #3 (Life and Times): Secession and War, pp. 775-780; The Black
Man at the White House, pp. 784-788, pp. 793-798, pp. 912-914. [In the Course Packet].
Selection of Frederick Douglasss Speeches, taken from Philip S. Foner, The Life and
Writings of Frederick Douglass (New York: International Publishers, 1955). Read: What
the Black Man Wants, pp. 157-165. Also taken from The Frederick Douglass Papers, edited
by John W. Blassingame (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979). Read: What to the
Slave is the Fourth of July? pp. 359-361; The Present, pp. 366-371; The Church
Responsible, pp. 377-381. [In the Course Packet].
Discussion Questions:
1.

What was the institutional failure that Frederick Douglass set out to address? What failure did
Lincoln try to right? How did each leader motivate others to join them in their respective endeavors?

2.

How, if at all, did these two leaders draw on personal lessons learned early on in their lives to
weather and manage crisis?

3.

How did they maintain their dedication and purpose to a greater cause through the bloodshed and
the turbulence of the Civil War?

4.

How did each of these men deal with the obstacles in their path? How, if at all, did they transform
crises into opportunities for growth and renewal?

5.

What were the most important attributes of each man that allowed them to be effective leaders?
What were some of the weaknesses that you see in each of these men that made them less effective?
12

IV. Tuesday, February 19

LEADERS:

Market Leaders

H.J. Heinz
John D. Rockefeller

READINGS: Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from
Wedgwood to Dell (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001). Read: Chapter 3, H.J
Heinz, 1844-1919, pp. 43-90.
John D. Rockefeller and the Creation of Standard Oil 807-110
Discussion Questions:
1.

How did each of these entrepreneurs come to create a new market and then lead it so effectively?

2.

How did each of these individuals define success?

3.

What drove Henry Heinz? What drove John D. Rockefeller? How do your answers to these
questions affect your understanding of how they achieved their success?

4.

Were there any weaknesses in Heinz and Rockefeller that potentially made them less effective?

5.

How important is the specific path an individual takes towards his or her goal?

V. Tuesday, February 26
LEADERS:

Passing it Forward

Madame C.J. Walker

Milton Hershey

READING:

Madame C.J. Walker: Entrepreneur, Leader and Philanthropist 807-145

Candy Land: The Utopian Vision of Milton Hershey 805-066

Discussion Questions:
1.

Both Madame C.J. Walker and Milton Hershey came from nothing. Through building successful
businesses, they both ended up having deep social impact. When they died, they were each at the top
of their respective business games. What were the key drivers for such achievements? How did each
of these individuals come to terms with their success?

13

2.

Madame C.J. Walker famously named the social and educational progress of young AfricanAmericans as one of her primary motivators. Even as her fortune grew, she stayed connected to the
issues facing black society. How is a business leaders commitment to a larger social agenda
compatible with the economic imperative for growth? How can it be detrimental?

3.

What do you make of Milton Hersheys repeated failures both before and after he started the
chocolate company? What can we learn about leadership in the 21st century from the life and work
of Milton Hershey?

4.

How were Walker and Hershey driven by ethical values? How important was a clean business or
organization to them? What do you learn about your own journey from examining how they came to
terms with themselves and with the missions of their organizations?

VI. Tuesday, March 5

LEADERS:

Breaking Through Boundaries

Este Lauder
Gloria Steinem

READINGS: Nancy F. Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from
Wedgwood to Dell (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001). Read: Chapter 5: Este
Lauder, pp. 137-199.
Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 1995). Read: Life Between the Lines, pp. 3-31. [Available on the LearningHub].
Nancy Hass, Gloria Steinem Still Wants More. Newsweek (August 7, 2011). Accessed at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/07/gloria-steinem-the-future-of-thefight-for-women-s-rights.html. [Available on the LearningHub].
Gloria Steinem, Statement of Gloria Steinem, Writer and Critic. Source: Congress, Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary, The Equal Rights Amendment: Hearings before the Subcommittee on
Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 2d sess. (May 5, 6, and 7,
1970). Accessed at: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7025. [Available on the
LearningHub].
Discussion Questions:
1.

How much flexibility did Este Lauder have as a female entrepreneur pursuing her mission? On
which stage was she most effective on? How did her upbringing and experience affect her chances
of success in the 1930s and 1940s?

2.

Compare and contrast the opportunities open to Este Lauder with those open to Gloria Steinem in
the 1960s and 1970s.

3.

What values and principles did Lauder hold fast to over her career?
14

4.

How did the vision and impact of each leader evolve over the three or four decades that they were
each active? How did Lauders vision for women differ from Steinems? How do you assess the
ambition of each of these women and how did this affect their evolving visions?

5.

What did each woman understand better than their male and females colleagues in their respective
arenas? What could Lauder and Steinem see that others could not?

6.

How would you compare Estee Lauder and Gloria Steinem as pioneers? How influential have their
views and work been for modern women? How would you assess these two women as leaders?

VII.

Tuesday, March 12

LEADERS:

The Cost of Commitment

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Martin Luther King, Jr.

READINGS:

Professors note: You have before you a range of primary and secondary source readings from and about Dietrich Bonhoeffer
and Martin Luther King, Jr. Both sets of secondary sources readingsthe editors introductions to Bonhoeffer and the
encyclopedia entry and excerpts from Taylor Branchs Pulitzer-prize winning history, Parting the Waters: America in the King
Years 1954-63, as well as the timelinesare intended to provide you a sense of the broad context in which each of these leaders
worked and developed. The excerpts from Parting the Waters are often dense with details about the myriad of people and
organizations that lit the early kindling of the fire of civil rights activism. Do not worry about parsing out the different people
and groups too closely. Instead focus on the larger picture of trying to organize effective, nonviolent action in the face of all kinds
of significant obstacles. Pay attention as well to Kings role in these early days and how it is related to his calling and internal
conversations with himself.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, edited by Geffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson (San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco, 1990). Read: Editors Introduction: Solidarity with the Oppressed:
Bonhoeffer the Man, pp. 3-46; Christ and Peace (Fall, 1932), pp. 98-101; The Church is
Dead (August 29, 1932), pp. 108-111; [Editors Introduction]: The Church Struggle and
Nazi Racial Policies, pp. 133- 135; The Bethel Confession (August 1933), pp. 141-144.
[Available on the LearningHub].
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, edited by Eberhard Bethge (New
York: Macmillan, 1972). Read: Prologue: After Ten Years: A Reckoning Made at New
Year 1943, pp. 3-17; Letter to his parents (September 5, 1943), pp. 104-106; Excerpt from
Letter commemorating baptism of Eberhard Bethges son (May 1944), pp. 296-299; Letter to
Eberhard Bethge (July 21, 1944), pp. 369-370. [Available on the LearningHub].
"King, Martin Luther, Jr.," entry from Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and
African American Experience, Second Edition, edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Oxford African American Studies Center. Accessed
at: http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0002/e2213. [Available on the LearningHub].

15

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference" (February
4, 1958). Accessed at: http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_580204_005/.
[Available on the LearningHub].
Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (April 16, 1963). Accessed
at: http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf. [Available
on the LearningHub].
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream" (Speech delivered August 28, 1963). Accessed at:
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/mlkdream.html.
Video (17:28): Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream (Speech delivered August 28, 1963).
Accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike (1968)," entry from the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Encyclopedia. Authored and edited by Clayborn Carson, Tenisha Armstrong, Susan Carson,
Erin Cook, and Susan Englander (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008). Accessed
at: http://mlkkpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_memphis_sanitation_worke
rs_strike_1968/. [Available on the LearningHub].
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (Speech delivered April 3, 1968 at
Mason Temple/Church of God in Christ Headquarters, Memphis, Tennessee). Accessed
at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm.
[Available on the LearningHub].
Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1988). Read: pp. 264-286; pp. 299-302; pp. 700-711; and pp. 725-730. [Available
on the LearningHub].
Video (4:47): Robert Kennedy, Robert Kennedy Announces the Assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Indianapolis, IN (April 4, 1968). Accessed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6mxL2cqxrA
Discussion Questions:
1.

Both Bonhoeffer and King were freedom fighters who put their lives in danger. Both spent time in
prison. Political and civic leaders often risk personal safety and security, persecution, jail time, and, in
some cases, death in the pursuit of their higher goals. How do they change accepted culture mores
and rigid institutional practices by embracing these risks?

2.

How did the personal lives of these leaders suffer because of the relentless pursuit of their causes?
Were their missions compatible with fulfilling personal lives? What concessions did they have to
make?

16

3.

To what extent must an effective leader have a sense of a mission beyond him or herself? Beyond
his or her time? Where and when did this sense of duty develop for Bonhoeffer and King? How
was it honed or sharpened over time? Is it a type of obsession?

4.

How did King and Bonhoeffer transform early failure and missteps into opportunity?

VIII. Tuesday, March 26

LEADERS:

Stewards of Sustainability

Rachel Carson
Gary Hirshberg

READINGS: Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield Farm 811-096

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002). Read: Introduction by
Linda Lear, pp. x-xix; pp. 1-13; pp. 84-127; pp. 276-297; and Afterword, by E. O. Wilson,
pp. 357-363. [Available on the LearningHub].
Rachel Carson, Letter to Dorothy Freeman (September 1963), reprinted in Lost Woods:
The Discovered Writings of Rachel Carson, edited by Linda Lear (Boston: Beacon Press,
1998), pp. 246-247. [Available on the LearningHub].
Nancy F. Koehn, From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change, New York Times (October 27,
2012). Accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/business/rachel-carsons-lessons50-years-after-silent-spring.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Jonathan Norton Leonard, Rachel Carson Dies of Cancer; Silent Spring Author was 56,
New York Times (April 15, 1964). Accessed at:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/05/reviews/carson-obit.html [Available on the
LearningHub].
Discussion Questions:
1.

How do leaders advance the important concept that the principles of the sustainability movement are
not inimical, but in fact complementary, to the objectives of business? How do businesses that
assess (and own responsibility for) their environmental impact stand to benefit financially?

2.

How difficult was it for Carson and Hirshberg to realize their dreams, emotionally and practically,
given the obstacles in their respective paths? How would you evaluate the exhaustion factor in each
of their journeys?

3.

What role can environmentally responsible business leaders take in correcting the mistakes of their
predecessors?

17

4.

Why should leaders consider placing sustainability high on their respective agendas? What difficult
questions can sustainability help modern businesses answer?

5.

Using a ten-point scalewith one as a trivial concern and ten as a ticking time bombassess the
importance of the environment as a global issue today. Given your ranking, who are the people and
which are the institutions best equipped to lead effectively on this issue?

IX. Tuesday, April 2

LEADERS:

Unleashing the Power of Knowledge

William Tyndale
Robert P. Moses

Professors note: This week, we take up two leaders who lived and worked more than 400 years apart. At first glance,

there seems little connection between the 16th-century biblical translator William Tyndale and the 20th-century activist Robert P.
Moses. As you unpack each of these mens stories, however, several important similarities emerge. Consider these carefully as you
read about these individuals. Think as well about the role of knowledge and education in the context of the pressing issues
confronting us todayfrom income inequality to national competitiveness to unemployment to social and political stability. With
Tyndales (unmediated) translation of the Old Testament, you will need the glossary he provides. It will also be very helpful to
compare these excerpts of Tyndales translations of both the New and Old Testament with the same sections in a recognized
version of the Bible.
READINGS: George Timothy, The Translators Tale: Celebrating the five-hundredth birthday of William
Tyndale, the father of the English Bible," Christianity Today (October 24, 1994), pp. 36-38.
[Available on the LearningHub].
Christmas SpecialsWilliam Tyndale: A hero for the information age, The Economist
(December 20, 2008). [Available on the LearningHub].
William Tyndale, Tyndale's New Testament, translated by William Tyndale and edited by
David Daniell (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989). Read: "The Introduction," pp.
viixxxiii; W. T., Unto the Reader and William Tyndale, yet once more to the Christian
Reader, pp. 3-16 inclusive; "The Glossary," pp. 23-26; Chapters 1-14 of "The Gospel of St.
Matthew," pp. 21-40. [Available on the LearningHub].
William Tyndales First Five Books of Moses, Called the Pentateuch, translated in part by
William Tyndale and compiled by J.I. Mombert (New York: Anson D.F. Randolph and Co.,
1884). Read: W.T. To The Reader, pp. 2-6; Chapters 1-4 of Genesis, pp. 15-25. As a
reference, use the "Glossary of obsolete words and phrases," on pp. cxxxiv-xcliii. [Available
on the LearningHub].
Bruce Watson, A Freedom Summer Activist Becomes a Math Revolutionary (Robert
Moses), Smithsonian 26, no. 11 (February 1, 1996), pp. 114-117. [Available on the
LearningHub].

18

Robert P. Moses, Quality Education as a Constitutional Right, edited by Theresa Perry,

Robert P. Moses, Joan T. Wynne, Ernesto Cortes, Jr., and Lisa Delpit (Boston: Beacon,
2010). Read: Constitutional Property vs. Constitutional People, pp. 70-92. [Available on
the LearningHub].
Robert P. Moses, Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights (Boston: Beacon, 2001).
Read: Chapter 1, Algebra and Civil Rights? pp. 3-22; Chapter 3, Standin at the
Crossroads, pp. 58-87; Chapter 5, Pedagogy, pp. 114-133. Also, skim the appendix.
[Available on the LearningHub].

Discussion Questions:

X.

1.

On what kind of stage did William Tyndale operate? How, working from periphery, did he affect the
larger moment? Compare and contrast how Tyndale and Moses harnessed the power of information
towards enlightened ends.

2.

How did these two leaders come to understand the imperative of widespread access to specific kinds
of knowledge? What social, political and economic impact did they anticipate their work would
have?

3.

What drove them to pursue their (often thankless) work? What pressures did they each come up
against?

4.

Why does it take a committed, resilient and savvy leader to help communities and societies embrace
what seem, intuitively, to be universal rights rights to information, to education, to knowledge?
What type of leader is needed to initiate (and sustain) this change? Why doesnt this type of access
founded on basic rightscome more easily through established institutions?

5.

What larger lessons, if any, do you draw about power and the Information Revolution from these
two individuals?

Tuesday, April 9 My Life is My Message

LEADERS:

Katherine Graham
Oprah Winfrey

CASE:

Oprah Winfrey 809-068

READINGS: Katharine Graham, A Vigilant Press: Its Job To Inform, Speech Delivered at Colby
College (March 20, 1974), printed in Vital Speeches of the Day 40:15, pp. 460-462.
[Available on the LearningHub].

19

Katharine Graham, Personal History (New York: Random House, 1997). Read: pp. 432508. [Available on the LearningHub].
Nora Ephron, Paper Route, New York Times (February 9, 1997). [Available on the
LearningHub].
Video (watch the first 14:40): Katharine Graham interviewed by Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose
(February 5, 1997). Accessed at: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/5721
Evan Thomas, An American Original: Katharine Graham, 1917-2001, Newsweek 138, no.
5 (July 30, 2001). Accessed at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2001/07/29/anamerican-original.html. [Available on the LearningHub].
Katharine Graham, 1917-2001, Washington Post (July 18, 2001). Accessed at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000789.html. [Available on the LearningHub].
Nancy Franklin, Oprah Winfreys New Cable Channel, The New Yorker 84, no. 5 (January
24, 2011), pp. 72-74. Accessed at:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/television/2011/01/24/110124crte_television_fra
nklin?currentPage=all [Available on the LearningHub].
Meg James and Joe Flint, Oprahs Success Hasnt Followed Her to OWN, Los Angeles
Times (March 31, 2012). Home Edition. Accessed at: http://www.latimes.com/business/lafi-ct-oprah20120331,0,5382925.story?page=2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MHC_Today%3
A_4.5.12_4_4_112&utm_source=Fire%20Engine%20RED [Available on the LearningHub].

Discussion Questions:
1. How do you assess Nancy Franklins assertion that Winfrey is all about truth? How is Winfreys
truth different from Katharine Grahams conception of the truth?
2. Compare and contrast how Winfrey and Graham used their respective media platforms. Which was
more effective in relation to her particular goals? How do you assess both women as business
leaders?
3. Consider each of these individuals journeys up to the point when they assumed real authority. What
insights do you draw about the making of a leader from these very distinct paths?
4. Both Winfrey and Graham have exercised great control over the distribution of information.
Toward which ends has each of these leaders used such control?
5. How do we learn from effective leaders - both those with whom we have direct experience and those
whom we know indirectly - through reputation or impact?

20

XI. Tuesday, April 16

LEADERS:

Entrepreneurial Success and Social Impact

Bono
Howard Schultz

READINGS: Bono and U2 809-148

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal 313-093
Discussion Questions:
1.

According to Forbes, the members of U2 earned almost $200 million in 12 months on their 360
degree tour. Four years earlier, the members of the band and their manager took home $250 million
without releasing a new album or creating any new offerings. What business strategy stands behind
this consistent wealth creation and how has this strategy evolved since the band's early days? What
are the bands key assets and liabilities in managing the business model they have created?

2.

How do you assess U2's humanitarian work, particularly Bono's activism and philanthropy? How
has his role been affected by his role as an artist and an entrepreneur? What challenges could arise
from the nexus between the two day jobs of rock star and devoted humanitarian?

3.

What is U2s mission?

4.

How did Starbucks lose its way beginning in late 2006? What were the most important decisions
Schultz and his team made beginning in 2008 to try to turn Starbucks around?

5.

How would you assess Schultzs leadership style? How did the transformation period hone his
leadership skills and abilities? How did the challenges the company faced help him become more
adept as a leader?

6.

How do you assess Schultzs vision of businesses effecting or catalyzing political change? How much
potential does this idea have?

XII.

Tuesday, April 23

LEADERS:

Power and Responsibility in Turbulent Times

Steve Jobs
Mark Zuckerberg

Professors Note: For this class, we will take up the work and impact of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, arguably two of
the most important leaders of the early 21st century. As background for your reflection and our class discussion, I have assigned
a variety of articles, a video clip and pages from the bestselling biography on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaccson. All of the materials
are easy to read (or watch), and several are gripping. As you absorb these fascinating stories, bear in mind that this is history in
the making and that, as such, we do not have the perspective that time and distance provide. A second aspect to keep in your
minds eye is that as exciting and powerful as both these mens lives have been, the success, influence and money are not the whole

21

story. What lies underneath these aspects of Jobs and Zuckerberg as we have come to know them? What tradeoffs has each
leader made as he relentlessly pursued his goals? How do these tradeoffs and the underbellies of each story matter?
READINGS: Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001). Read: pp. 1-85; pp. 327339; pp. 358-367; and pp. 538-558.
Nancy F. Koehn, Steve Jobss Legacy, Fortune 60, no. 10 (November 23, 2009). Accessed
at:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/03/technology/steve_jobs_legacy.fortune/index.htm.
[Available on the LearningHub].
John Markoff, Apple's Visionary Redefined Digital Age, New York Times (October 5,
2011). Accessed at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at56.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print. [Available on the LearningHub].
Video (15:00): Steve Jobs, How to Live Before You Die, Stanford University
Commencement Address (June 14, 2005). Accessed at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html.
Optional Information on Mr. Jobs:
Steven Levy, Steve Jobs, 1954-2011, Wired Epicenter (October 6, 2011). Accessed at:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/jobs/all/1. [Available on the LearningHub].
Video clips (3:12) of Steve Jobs introducing his products since 1977, part of a tribute to
Steve Jobs, on Wired Epicenter. Accessed at:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/jobs/all/1.
Jose Antonio Vargas, The Face of Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up, The New Yorker
86, no. 28 (September 20, 2010), pp. 54-64. Accessed at:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas?printable=true.
[Available on the LearningHub].
Lev Grossman, Mark Zuckerberg: Person of the Year 2010, Time (December 15, 2010).
Accessed at:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183_2037185,
00.html. [Available on the LearningHub].
Miguel Helft and Jessi Hempel, Inside Facebook, Fortune 165, no. 4 (March 19, 2012).
[Available on the LearningHub].
Floating Facebook: The Value of Friendship, The Economist (February 4, 2012), pp. 23-26.
Accessed at: http://www.economist.com/node/21546020.

22

United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Form S-1 Registration Statement,
Facebook, Inc. (February 1, 2012). Read: pp. 1-6, pp. 11-14; Skim: pp. 15-33; Also read:
Mark Zuckerbergs Letter [to Potential Investors] on pp. 67-70; Also read: pp. 71-81.
Accessed at:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.ht
m#toc287954_10.

Discussion Questions:
1.

In the late 1970s, during the early years of the Information Revolution (which was then called the
Computer Revolution), many people were counting a lot of basketballs around this new
technology. What was the gorilla that Steve Jobs saw in the midst of the bouncing basketballs? How
did this vision affect his path going forward? How did it affect his impact today?

2.

Ousted from Apple in 1985, Jobs spent many years in what he would later call the wilderness before
returning to the company in 1997. What role did this wilderness period play in Jobss evolution as a
leader? As a human being?

3.

Several of the readings compare Steve Jobs to historical entrepreneurs such as Henry Ford, Andrew
Carnegie or Thomas Edison. Certainly Jobs was an entrepreneur who relentlessly pursued
opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled. How do you assess him as a
leader? What were his greatest strengths and weaknesses? With which other figures in our course
would you compare him?

4.

In the last assigned chapter in his biography of Jobs, Walter Isaacson writes about Jobss
relationships with his family and others. How do these snapshots of Jobs inform your broader
understanding of him as a leader?

5.

What do you make of Mark Zuckerberg, one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the
world? At almost every turn, he says he co-founded Facebook in order to make the world more
open and connected. How do you assess this mission in relation to Zuckerberg himself and in
relation to how his company makes money? What synergies and conflicts do you see between
Facebooks overarching goal and what it actually does day to day? (Pay special attention to the
readings from the SEC S1 document as you think about this question).

6.

How do you assess Facebooks impact on social relationshipson and offline? Have our social
relations and the quality of our connections improved through a platform like Facebook? Does
more connectivity enrich the quality of our lives? What difference has Facebook made in your
life? How do the answers to this question inform your assessment of Mark Zuckerberg as a leader?

7.

How sustainable is Facebook? What will the site need to do to avoid the fate of countless other
social networking sites that have burst forth, blossomed and failed? What alternative sites and ideas
could potentially overtake Facebook?
23

8.

Do you trust Facebook to adequately safeguard your privacy? Whose responsibility is it to mind the
privacy store?

XIII. Tuesday, April 30

The Quest for Fame

LEADER:

Ernest Shackleton

READINGS:

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance
803-127
Nancy F. Koehn, Leadership Lessons From the Shackleton Expedition, New York Times
(December 24, 2011). Accessed at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-the-shackletonexpedition.html?pagewanted=all.
Transcript of Robert F. Kennedy at University of Cape Town, South Africa N.U.S.A.S.
"Day of Affirmation" Speech, (June 6th, 1966). Accessed at:
http://rfksafilm.org/html/speeches/unicape.php.

Discussion Questions:
1.

What drove Ernest Shackleton? How does an understanding of his ambition inform your
perspective on his leadership during the crisis of the Endurance expedition?

2.

How would you assess Shackletons actions on the ice, once the game had changed so suddenly
and completely for the expedition? What were his key strengths and weaknesses throughout the
20-month ordeal?

3.

What are the most important lessons of the Shackleton story for leaders today working in the
midst of great turbulence?

4.

Read Robert Kennedys Cape Town speech carefully. What do you learn about leadership in
the 21st century from his remarks delivered more than 45 years ago? How is the gauntlet
Kennedy drops relevant to your own journey?

5.

If you could have one public figure today read Kennedys speech and put it into action, who
would this be and how would you have him or her make something tangible of it?

24