A unique aspect of Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies is the integration of writings from the Great Books, a source of leadership wisdom from the humanities that many scholars overlook. The Classic Case section of each Unit of study contains these carefully selected excerpts, as well as excerpts from more contemporary writings, speeches, and biographies.

The Classic Cases, as presented in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies, offer an extraordinary opportunity to participate in a meaningful inquiry into the nature of leadership. Some of the cases present leaders in context, revealing their qualities and examining their courses of action. Other Cases go beyond illustrations and models to look at perennially important issues of leadership from a more theoretical perspective. Not only do these historical and philosophical works constitute a body of collective wisdom, but they also provide rich insight into the complex concept of leadership.

Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies uses film to enhance the study of leadership. The films provide an excellent opportunity to focus on and examine the specific leadership skill featured in each unit. They also provide substance for discussion of the concept of leadership and skills featured in other units.

Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies implements a variety of exercises to promote experiential learning. Experiential learning is particularly effective because of its immediacy and its personal impact. Each unit contains at least one exercise to facilitate experiential learning.

In addition to the Classic Cases, films, and exercises, there are nearly forty compelling and thought-provoking readings on leadership. These carefully selected readings enhance the understanding of leadership and the skills addressed in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies.

Through its intellectual content and hands-on process, Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies provides emerging and existing leaders the opportunity to explore the concept of leadership and to develop and improve their leadership skills. Colleges can use the course to promote leadership development among:

• Community college students, both part-time and full-time credit students who, as associate degree candidates, constitute a likely core of potential community leaders;
• Business people and community organization members who aspire to leadership roles or are already in them, but lack formal exposure to leadership education or related skills development and would welcome non-credit, skill-based adult education classes;
• High school students who already take the lead in their communities or who are interested in developing their leadership abilities;
• Faculty and staff on campus who are seeking on-site professional development.

For further information about the course, read the course description and the discussion of the course units.

Course Description

The Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies is designed to provide emerging and existing leaders the opportunity to explore the concept of leadership and to develop and improve their leadership skills. The course integrates readings from the humanities, experiential exercises, films, and contemporary readings on leadership.

The Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies is designed to enable students to:

• Develop a fundamental understanding of leadership and the skills manifest in effective leaders.
• Identify their personal leadership orientation and philosophy.
• Demonstrate effective techniques and strategies for articulating a vision.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the steps involved in setting goals.
• Demonstrate comprehension of the elements and processes involved in decision making.
• Describe the link between effective time management and effective leadership.
• Identify the elements of effective team building.
• Discuss the roles of empowering and delegating as effective leadership skills.
• Discuss the role of a leader in initiating change and helping others to adjust to change.
• Describe the various types of conflict and discuss the role the leader can play in managing conflict.
• Discuss the complexities inherent in ethical leadership.
• Define and evaluate the servant-leader’s role in leadership.
• Develop their personal leadership ability.

Discover and Re-discover the Universal Leadership Insights of the World’s Classic Thinkers and Leaders

The Humanities Core of Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies

The foundation of Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies is the observation and study of great leaders portrayed in the Humanities by writers, historians, and film-makers as well as the observation and study of the works of great leaders themselves. This integration of readings from the Humanities is a unique aspect of Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies. The leadership wisdom contained in the selections from ancient Greece and China, Renaissance Europe, Early America, and twentieth century Europe, America, and Africa, is often overlooked by traditional leadership development curricula.

Each unit contains a Classic Case, an excerpt of a philosophical treatise or literary work. Additional Humanities selections appear in each unit’s Leadership Profile, usually drawing on a leader’s own words about leadership or biographical writing about the leader, and finally, there are also Humanities selections in some of the contemporary readings sections of each unit to further explore the topic of a unit through additional literary or biographical excerpts. Each unit also has a Film Study to explore leadership dynamics in action within a dramatization of a true story.

These descriptions of the Units in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies reflect the content of the 2006 Fourth Edition of the textbook.

Unit One: Developing A Personal Leadership Philosophy

In this unit, students examine different views of leadership and establish the foundation for a personal leadership philosophy. Excerpts from the Humanities include material from Plato’s Republic. Simon Bolivar’s famous Angostura Address outlines his philosophy of leadership in liberating much of South America from European colonizers in the early nineteenth century. The classic film, Twelve O’Clock High, portrays contrasting leadership philosophies and students explore the underlying assumptions of each approach.

Unit Two: Leading By Serving

Service to others and the public good is the cornerstone of great leadership. This unit explores in detail Servant Leadership and demonstrates compellingly that leadership in any field of endeavor requires a reversal of the conventional wisdom that exhorts simply to lead: it argues that the important thing is to serve. Included as the Classic Case are excerpts from Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse, which inspired Robert Greenleaf’s seminal writing on “The Servant as Leader,” also part of the unit. The Leadership Profile comes from a narrative of Harriet Tubman’s leadership showing service combined with leadership. A contemporary example of true servant leadership is portrayed in the Film Study of Hotel Rwanda.

Unit Three: Understanding Ethical Leadership

This unit introduces students to the concepts of personal and institutional social responsibility and social responsiveness. It also surveys the process of ethical reasoning and its tools. In Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Captain Vere faces a critical ethical dilemma. Confucius’ philosophy of leadership from The Analects contains significant excerpts on ethical leadership. Some of Gandhi’s writing on the philosophical foundation of non-violent resistance appears in the additional readings for this unit. Finally, the true story of The Tuskeegee Experiment and its lessons in ethical leadership is presented in the film Miss Evers’ Boys.

Unit Four: Articulating A Vision

Inspiring a shared vision is one of the most difficult tasks a leader faces. There is a critical link between a leader’s vision and his or her ability to communicate its essence powerfully. Three speeches from Shakespeare’s Henry V, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abraham Lincoln provide students the opportunity to examine excellent examples of articulating a vision. In addition, students observe the skill and drive with which suffragettes Alice Paul and Lucy Burns and others communicated their vision in the film Iron Jawed Angels.

Unit Five: Team Building

An effective leader engages in team building activities to increase the effectiveness of groups and the satisfaction of individuals working in groups. An excerpt from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath underscores the importance of trust, courtesies, and establishing routine procedures for effective team building. A speech by Cesar Chavez demonstrates the organizational side of creating a team with unity of purpose. Students also observe the phenomenal team-building skills of football coach Herman Boone in Remember the Titans.

Unit Six: Leading With Goals

Goals are the stepping stones to personal, interpersonal, and career development and are critical for effective leadership. The Classic Case from George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion illustrates the importance of keen focus on goals and the necessary ingredients for reaching goals. Frederick Douglass’ autobiography provides a historical example of effective goal setting. Excerpts from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and a Film Study of Apollo 13 provide further examples of the importance of effective goal setting.

Unit Seven: Making Decisions

This unit investigates the processes of decision making first from a personal perspective with an excerpt from Huckleberry Finn, and then from a broader perspective when decisions will affect many with Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces who recounts the difficulties of weighing consequences in his 1879 speech “An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs.” George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant” reflects on the power of outside influences on our decisions. Students examine the decision making processes during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the Film Study of Thirteen Days as well as in an exercise using the film Twelve Angry Men.

Unit Eight: Guiding Through Conflict

In this unit, students learn that the leader’s task is not to remove conflict, but to choreograph it so as to reduce its harmful side effects, maximize its positive benefits, and maintain civility. Excerpts from Homer’s The Iliad illustrate the kind of conflict that can bring organizations down. Judith Olmstead describes the conflict management skills of Chimate Chumbolo in excerpts from Woman Between Two Worlds: Portrait of an Ethiopian Rural Leader. The Federalist: Number 10, by James Madison, offers profound insight regarding the corrosive effect of organizational conflict and makes specific recommendations for its remedy. In addition, for the Film Study, facilitators will guide students in an exploration of one or more films illustrating contemporary issues that heighten tensions between groups and create barriers to understanding.

Unit Nine: Realizing Change

One of the most important tasks of the leader is to encourage the ongoing rejuvenation of a group or organization. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave speaks eloquently to the problems a leader faces when he or she tries to change the organization. The words of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony describe the resistance they face and their determination to bring about change. Finally, Letter From Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King, Jr., compellingly explains the need for change and how change can happen. Schindler’s List provides a powerful example of how one person, the accountant Levin, initiates important and meaningful change in Oskar Schindler who not only changes his own life, but the lives of over a thousand others.

Unit Ten: Empowering Others

Empowerment is an important concept for effective leadership. Sophocles’ Antigone illustrates how an individual with no structural or formal power can give power and meaning to individuals or a community. Nelson Mandela also empowered many even while imprisoned and excerpts from his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom describe his approaches. The film Norma Rae portrays the empowering leadership of a union organizer and a determined factory worker.

Unit Eleven: Exploring the History of Leadership Studies

The use of the Humanities is on center stage in this final unit. Excerpts from Aristotle’s Politics highlight the importance of European Ancient Civilizations in leadership studies, and excerpts from Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching show the importance of Asian Ancient Civilizations. Together, these selections point out the ancient roots of two prominent schools of thought regarding leadership: Great Man/Great Woman theory and Servant Leadership. This unit includes more Humanities readings than any other with additional literary excerpts from The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, and The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, to illustrate the dominance of Great Man/Great Woman theory and the emergence of Scientific Management theory. An excerpt from Abram Maslow introduces Human Relations theory, and the autobiographical writings of Aung San Suu Kyi introduce Systems theory. The film Elizabeth gives students the opportunity to consider whether Great Man theory provides a framework for understanding female leadership as well or if other theories better describe the leadership of Queen Elizabeth I.