Xenophon's Anabasis lessons in leadership
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Authors
Sears, David C.
Subjects
Advisors
McCormick, Gordon
Date of Issue
2007-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is, paradoxically, to provide a fresh perspective on leadership, particularly military leadership, by returning to a piece of classic literature. It is not about defining leadership, or presenting an argument in defense of one leadership theory or another. It is about analyzing, from the classical historian's as well as the professional soldier's perspective, one of the greatest examples of leadership in written history-Xenophon's Anabasis. This thesis will extract, from Xenophon's work, a wide range of the characteristics and principles of leadership, as well as discuss concrete examples of their use. Some of the principles and characteristics presented will no doubt be familiar, such as leading by example, building morale, and instilling discipline. Others, such as consensus decision making, piety, and brutality might be viewed as more controversial. All the principles however, from balancing contradictions to gathering information, share one significant and inescapable truth - one man, using the principles laid out in the pages that follow, facing inhospitable terrain and weather, supply and food shortages, internal dissent, and external hostility, successfully led ten thousand disparate Greek mercenaries on one of the greatest adventures and survival expeditions in written history.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funding
Format
x, 53 p. ;
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.