alexander

Recommendations

Info

Leadership Process Four: Directing Symbols 115 of anything. Tyrants throughout history have effectively used such knowledge to their advantage. It enabled him to conserve scarce human resources at the cost of the innocent. You may prefer this example be put in a chapter called ‘‘Lesser Great Acts.’’ It is less great, but the logic is unimpeachable. Leading Lessons We can (and historians do) quibble and debate about the horror of the one town and whether such behavior was ‘‘appropriate’’ to the times, but such debates are beside the point for our learning from Alexander. Does history remember Alexander as a mass murderer or a victorious general? This lesson is extremely difficult to convert to modern times. Although Alexander’s action demonstrates how you can successfully manipulate human nature, if he were a general today, he would be court-martialed for such action. An executive today using similar civilian actions would be under scrutiny for illegal or unethical behavior. Having said that, sometimes legal and ethical behaviors that get things done are not nice behaviors and today would be avoided by most—but not all—executives. A classic example is that of Robert Moses, who was responsible for reshaping New York City and the surrounding boroughs so thoroughly over the course of decades. Moses resorted to blackmail, physical threats, intimidation, and other ‘‘hardball’’ tactics. In some circles, Moses is considered a monster, and the heaping of abuse upon him and his reputation is warranted. In other
116 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT circles, people admit that while his techniques (like Alexander’s) were heavy-handed, he got things done that almost certainly would not have been accomplished otherwise. This may be Machiavellianism, where the ends justify the means, but this is also prudent, careful, thought-out use of power, symbolically enhanced to reduce subsequent resource expenditures. Applied with rarity, toned-down modern versions of extreme actions may be justifiable.
Page 2 and 3:
THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Page 4 and 5:
THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT E
Page 6 and 7:
CONTENTS Foreword .................
Page 8 and 9:
CONTENTS vii 33: Ablutions, Celebra
Page 10 and 11:
FOREWORD Alexander the Great as a l
Page 12 and 13:
PREFACE Leadership cannot be taught
Page 14 and 15:
PREFACE xiii Sources: How Do We Kno
Page 16 and 17:
PREFACE xv Alexander’s exploits a
Page 18 and 19:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Books are not the w
Page 20 and 21:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix Dickerson, Andy
Page 23 and 24:
RÉSUMÉ Alexander the Great SIGNIF
Page 25 and 26:
This page intentionally left blank
Page 27 and 28:
2 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
10 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREA
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92: 66 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREA
Page 100 and 101: This page intentionally left blank
Page 126 and 127: 100 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GRE
Page 130: The heart of the Persian Empire—m
Page 141: 114 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GRE
Page 183 and 184: 156 APPENDIX 326 Battle at River Hy
Page 185 and 186: 158 BIBLIOGRAPHY Fildes, Alan, and
Page 191 and 192: 164 INDEX Alexander the Great (cont
Page 193 and 194:
166 INDEX integration of cultures,
Page 195:
168 INDEX Sogdiana, Rock of, 65 Sov
show all

alexander

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?