Harvard Business Review Press
Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership Through Literature
Key Metrics
- Joseph L Badaracco
- Harvard Business Review Press
- Hardcover
- 9781591399681
- 9.39 X 6.47 X 0.91 inches
- 1.11 pounds
- Business & Economics > Leadership
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
In Questions of Character, Joseph L. Badaracco outlines eight fundamental challenges that test a leader's character, and proposes exploring them through the lens of literature. Badaracco argues that serious fiction provides us with memorable characters facing compelling challenges similar to those that confront business leaders. Through rich analysis of the main characters in The Death of a Salesman, The Secret Sharer, The Last Tycoon, and other stories, Badaracco addresses complex issues leaders face, such as the soundness of their vision, their readiness to take on responsibility, the depth of their compassion, and their ability to manage success.
Presenting classic leadership dilemmas in a novel and valuable light, Questions of Character helps leaders and aspiring leaders prepare for the opportunities and tests before them.
Author Bio
Joseph L. Badaracco is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School. He has taught courses on business ethics, strategy, and management in the School's MBA and executive programs.
Badaracco is a graduate of St. Louis University, Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar, and Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA and a DBA. In recent years, Professor Badaracco served as Chair of the MBA Program and as Housemaster of Currier House in Harvard College. He has also been chairman of the Harvard University Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility and has served on the boards of two public companies. Badaracco has taught in executive programs in the United States, Japan, and many other countries and has spoken to a wide variety of organizations on issues of leadership, values, and ethics. He is also the faculty chair of the Nomura School of Advanced Management in Tokyo.
Badaracco's current research focuses on what counts as sound reflection for busy men and women who have serious responsibilities and face hard, practical problems. He has written several books on leadership, decision-making, and responsibility. These include Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right, Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing, Questions of Character, and The Good Struggle: Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World. These books have been translated into ten languages.
Badaracco has three children and lives with his wife, Patricia O'Brien, in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Source: Harvard Business School
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