Leadership of Julius Caesar and Napoleon

The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast the leadership of Julius Caesar and Napoleon. The plan of the research will be to set forth a context of leadership as a theory and then to discuss how the examples of Caesar and Napoleon illustrate features of leadership strategy and style that might be instructive for modern sensibilities.

In the modern period, leadership is typically discussed in terms of business-management, with leadership style being linked to effectiveness and ineffectiveness. Modern styles of leadership stress the ability of leaders almost to conceal their authority behind a screen of moral suasion and teamwork. The theme of cooperative rather than power-oriented group dynamics dominates theories of organizational leadership and morale. For example, Senge draws a distinction between a "command-and-control corporate model" (1997, p. 25) and a model in which leaders and those they lead all together become "learnrs." Top-down management is not suited to that. Engagement and cooperative learning, on the other hand, implies openness to innovation and change, which may be technology- or procedure-driven.

According to the emerging leadership literature, it is essential to evolve from an ethos of compliance and toward shared commitment and responsibility. To be sure, even in the newer models, someone will supervise. However, the leader's role is to "steward cultural change through shifts in their own behavior and that of top-level teams, and who use th

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d benefit him. Brennan, et al., quote Plutarch's observation that Caesar mastered the art of cipher messages when dealing with "urgent" business (2001, p. 66). The also describe an incident in battle when Caesar tacked a message to the point of a spear and had a soldier hurl it onto a tower; the message was eventually discovered and acted on (pp. 149-50). The benefit of access to special information for a leader may be inferred. It turned out that Caesar ignored a key piece of encrypted information from the soothsayer who warned him to beware the Ides of March, a warning recorded by Suetonius and, later, Shakespeare (Brennan, et al., 2001). Further to that point, it has been noted that although Caesar "was a superb military leader who understood that there were no victories without first-rate intelligence," he was "blindsided by his enemies" and "should have realized that fateful morning that something was up" (Bennis, 2003). Bennis says that Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is an object lesson in leadership and that the play concludes that Caesar was distracted by Cassius' "lean and hungry look" away from the real threats from the other conspirators: "Organizations and their leaders thrive only when essential information reaches thos

Category: Psychology - L