HIST 256 - Leaders & Leadership

4 credit(s)
Provides an overview of leaders and leadership from ancient times to the modern era. We will assess how the historical context as well as notions of gender, race, sexuality, and class have shaped convictions about effective leadership. Reading texts from Herodotus, the Bible, Saint Augustine, Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and theories put forth in contemporary leadership studies, we will analyze the use of rhetoric, political skills, emotional intelligence, passion, team work, decision-making, conflict resolution, and grit that has propelled leaders in the fields of politics, business, the military, social movements, and religion. We will investigate the characteristics deemed necessary in a leader, various leadership styles (situational, autocratic, facilitative, cross-cultural, servant, transformational), the tension between effectiveness and ethics, and the emerging fields of thought leaders and “influencers.”
Offered: Alternate years.

Core Requirement(s): Historical Context.