Leadership Lessons from the Ancient World is a collection of insights on leadership derived from a collection of ancient literary works studied by Dr. John Immerwahr’s “Traditions in Conversation” course, as part of the Villanova University Augustine and Culture Seminar class during the spring semester of 2009.  The students, representing a broad cross-section of Villanova’s freshman class, immersed themselves in these early works and scoured them for lessons on leadership still applicable in the modern world.

The class was divided into small groups of two or three students. Each group worked on a specific ancient text and synthesized several key leadership lessons, explained them, and then provided real-world applications for these lessons.

Specifically, the class concentrated on texts from some of the ancient world’s most revered literary sources, including Plato, Augustine, and the Bible. Leadership Lessons explains how the story of Abraham in Genesis offers insight into how critical it is for a leader to rally his followers around an important cause. It includes a discussion of how Euripides play, The Bacchae, portrays the importance of selflessness in leadership. It describes the value of encouraging the intellectual development of subordinates found in Plato’s Cave Analogy, and it includes the emphasis placed on values by Augustine and Jesus’ inspiration of his followers.

After each individual group completed its assessment of the assigned work, the groups collaboratively edited the other groups’ contributions and ensured that each was uniform in tone, style, and theme.

We hope you will find Leadership Lessons of the Ancient World meaningful because it illustrates the relevance of literature written thousands of years ago and why such works should still be read and studied.

The Students in Traditions in Conversations, ACS 1000-008.
Villanova University

April 2009